Bill Text: CA AB1308 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Midwifery.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-10-10 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 665, Statutes of 2013. [AB1308 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB1308-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 1308	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bonilla

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

   An act relating to professions and vocations.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1308, as introduced, Bonilla. Midwifery.
   Existing law, the Licensed Midwifery Practice Act of 1993,
provides for the licensing and regulation of midwives by the Board of
Licensing of the Medical Board of California. The license to
practice midwifery authorizes the holder, under the supervision of a
licensed physician and surgeon, as specified, to attend cases of
normal childbirth and to provide prenatal, intrapartum, and
postpartum care, including family-planning care, for the mother, and
immediate care for the newborn. A violation of the act is a crime.
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to remove barriers to care in order to provide a more
efficient and safer delivery method for mother and infant by allowing
licensed midwives to practice in a manner originally intended in
prior legislation.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares the following:
   (1) Licensed midwives have been authorized to practice since 1993
under Senate Bill 350 (Chapter 1280 of the Statutes of 1993), which
was authored by Senator Killea. Additional legislation, Senate Bill
1950 (Chapter 1085 of the Statutes of 2002), which was authored by
Senator Figueroa, was needed in 2002 to clarify certain practice
issues. While the midwifery license does not specify or limit the
practice setting in which licensed midwives may provide care, the
reality is that the majority of births delivered by licensed midwives
are planned as home births.
   (2) Planned home births are safer when care is provided as part of
an integrated delivery model. For a variety of reasons, this
integration rarely occurs, and creates a barrier to the best and
safest care possible. This is due, in part, to the attempt to fit a
midwifery model of care into a medical model of care.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that
would systematically remove unnecessary barriers to care in order to
provide a more efficient and safer delivery for mother and infant by
allowing licensed midwives to practice in a manner originally
intended in the authorizing legislation.