Five of CMA’s six sponsored bills have passed in the Assembly and now await policy committee hearings in the Senate. Two of those bills—AB 682, which would help make HIV testing a routine part of medical checkups, and AB 1226, which would streamline Medi-Cal physician enrollment—garnered near-unanimous support from the 80-member Assembly.

Other CMA-sponsored bills that have moved on to the Senate:

• AB 632, which would strengthen whistleblower protections for physicians and prohibit hospitals from retaliating or discriminating against a physician on its medical staff for speaking out about the quality of care provided in the facility.
• AB 1324, which would confirm that it is illegal for insurers to rescind or modify authorization after services are rendered in good faith.
• AB 1155, which would require mandatory penalties for HMOs that are found by the Department of Managed Health Care to have underpaid physicians, and would require those HMOs to automatically pay to physicians the full amount of underpayment plus interest.

The only CMA-sponsored bill that failed to advance was the farmworker health coverage bill (AB 770). This bill, which would improve access to health care for farmworkers in California, will be taken up again next year.

CMA-Opposed Bills
This year’s attempt to legalize physician-assisted suicide stalled on the Assembly floor and no vote was taken. CMA policy is that assisting in someone’s death is in direct conflict with a doctor’s ethical duties. The association has taken and reaffirmed its position against physician-assisted suicide five times since the 1980s.

CMA has also successfully averted a number of legislative attempts to expand the scope of practice of allied health professionals. Among the bills that were tabled was one that would allow psychologists to prescribe psychotropic drugs; one that would allow acupuncturists to use low-level lasers for medical purposes; and another that would eliminate many physician supervision requirements for nurse practitioners (NPs), allowing NPs to, among other things, admit and discharge hospital patients and prescribe controlled substances without physician approval. All of these bills stalled in committee and were tabled until next year.

Health Reform
Both the Assembly and Senate approved the Democratic health reform plans last week, sending measures by Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez to the other chamber. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has yet to find an author for his health care reform proposal. CMA continues to participate in extensive discussions with the governor’s office and other stakeholders on the essentials of reform.

For more information on this and other bills of interest to physicians, see CMA's Legislative Hot List.

Contact: Susan Bassett, 916/444-5532 or sbassett@cmanet.org.