CMA’s Legislative Hot List, distributed weekly during the legislative session, follows the progress of CMA-sponsored bills and other bills of interest to physicians as they move through the legislative process.

Among the bills being followed this year:

HIV Screening: This bill (AB 682) would streamline the HIV testing process, so that HIV screening can become a routine part of medical checkups, as recommended by the CDC.

CMA Position: Sponsor

Motorcycle Helmet Exceptions: This bill (AB 425) would exempt drivers 18 years of age or older from the motorcycle helmet law upon completion of a motorcycle rider training program.

CMA Position: Oppose

Retroactive Policy Cancellation: This bill (AB 1324) would confirm that it is illegal for insurers to rescind or modify authorization after services are rendered in good faith. It would also require that physicians be paid for services provided in good faith with prior authorization.

CMA Position: Sponsor

Physicians’ Right to Fair Payment: CMA opposes this bill (SB 389), which would prohibit hospital-based physicians from seeking payment from patients, even if the patients’ HMOs fail to fairly reimburse for services provided to enrollees.

CMA Position: Oppose

Physician-Assisted Suicide: This bill (AB 374) would allow physicians in California to prescribe lethal doses of pharmaceutical drugs to people who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and are in intractable pain.

CMA opposes physician-assisted suicide, believing that assisting in someone’s death is in direct conflict with a doctor’s ethical duties. CMA has taken and reaffirmed its position against physician-assisted suicide five times since the 1980s, most recently this February.

CMA Position: Oppose

If you would like to be notified via e-mail when the hot list is updated, contact Susan Bassett at 916/444-5532 or sbassett@cmanet.org.

You can also view the latest hot list online.