BILL NUMBER: AB 1829 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 21, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Conway
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Hagman, Harkey, Olsen, Wagner,
and Wilk )
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
An act to add Section 100522 to the Government Code, relating to
health care coverage, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take
effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1829, as amended, Conway. California Health Benefit Exchange:
employees and contractors.
The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires
each state to establish an American Health Benefits Exchange that
makes available qualified health plans to qualified individuals and
small employers. Existing state law establishes the California Health
Benefit Exchange (Exchange) within state government, specifies the
powers and duties of the board governing the Exchange, and requires
the board to facilitate the purchase of qualified health plans
through the Exchange by qualified individuals and small employers by
January 1, 2014. Existing law requires the board to employ necessary
staff and authorizes the board to enter into contracts. Existing law
requires the board to submit to the Department of Justice fingerprint
images and related information of specified individuals whose duties
include or would include access to specified information for the
purposes of obtaining prescribed criminal history information.
The bill would prohibit the board from hiring or contracting with
a person, including an employee or prospective employee, who has been
convicted of specified crimes if the person's duties would involve
facilitating enrollment in qualified health plans or would give the
person access to the financial or medical information of enrollees or
potential enrollees of the Exchange. The bill would also require a
person who has filed an application for employment with the Exchange
to notify the Exchange of any prescribed misdemeanor or felony
convictions, filing of misdemeanor or felony charges, or
administrative actions that occur after submitting his or her
application.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The mission of the California Health Benefit Exchange
(Exchange) is to increase the number of insured Californians.
(b) According to the Exchange, the Assisters Program is designed
to target populations in California's vast, geographically diverse
mix of rural and urban communities, estimated at 4,000,000 eligible
individuals: 100,000 in northern California and Sierra counties,
130,000 in the Sacramento area, 390,000 in the greater bay area,
250,000 in the San Joaquin Valley, 140,000 in the central coast,
780,000 in Los Angeles, and another 750,000 in southern California.
(c) According to the Exchange, the Assisters Program is designed
to target populations within the estimated 4,000,000 eligible
individuals that are ethnically diverse: 1,880,000 estimated to be
Hispanic, 1,340,000 Caucasian, 470,000 Asian, and 210,000 African
American.
(d) According to the Exchange, the Assisters Program will conduct
outreach, education, marketing, and enrollment for the Exchange to
reach the estimated 4,000,000 eligible individuals.
(e) The Assisters Program is expected to both promote
maximum enrollment of individuals into coverage , and
ensure that assisters are knowledgeable of both subsidized and
nonsubsidized health care coverage and qualified health plans and are
equipped with the information and expertise needed to successfully
enroll individuals into coverage.
(f) The Exchange will use individual assisters, in-person
assisters, and navigators in the Assisters Program to accomplish
these goals.
(g) Individual assisters, in-person assisters, and navigators
will, necessarily, have access to eligible individuals' personal
identifying information, including social security numbers, personal
health information, and state and federal tax information, to enroll
over 4,000,000 Californians in health insurance programs.
(h) Agents and brokers, health insurers, and other entities that
currently handle applications for health care coverage and the
applicant's sensitive, personal information are required to be
licensed by the Department of Insurance.
(i) The Department of Insurance, by law, is authorized to require
applicants for licensure to pass background checks, including
fingerprinting, as a condition of licensure.
(j) It is in the public's interest that eligible individuals
purchasing health care coverage through the services of an individual
assister, in-person assister, or navigator have the same reasonable
expectation of privacy protections afforded to Californians
purchasing health care coverage through a private agent or broker.
(k) It is the intent of the Legislature to advance the public's
interest in protecting and safeguarding eligible individuals from the
unauthorized and illegal access to, or disclosure of, their personal
identifying information, personal health information, or federal tax
information when the Exchange enrolls customers into health care
plans for coverage.
SEC. 2. Section 100522 is added to the Government Code,
immediately following Section 100521, to read:
100522. (a) The board shall not hire or contract with any person,
including, but not limited to, all employees, prospective employees,
contractors, subcontractors, volunteers, or vendors, whose duties
would include facilitating enrollment in qualified health plans
offered through the Exchange or would give the person access to the
financial or medical information of enrollees or potential enrollees
of the Exchange if the person has been convicted of any of the
following:
(1) A felony crime of dishonesty or breach of trust in a state or
federal jurisdiction.
(2) A violation of Section 1033 of Title 18 of the United States
Code.
(3) A crime included in Section 2183.2 of Title 10 of the
California Code of Regulations.
(b) A person who has applied for employment with the Exchange for
a position where, in the course and scope of his or her employment,
he or she will have access to the financial or medical information of
enrollees or potential enrollees of the Exchange shall immediately
notify the Exchange upon any misdemeanor or felony conviction, any
filing of misdemeanor or felony charges in state or federal court,
any administrative action regarding a professional or occupational
license, or any conviction listed in subdivision (a), if the action
occurs after an application has been submitted.
SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to protect and safeguard customers enrolling in qualified
health plans offered through the California Health Benefit Exchange
from the unauthorized and illegal access to, or disclosure of, their
personal identifying information, personal health information, or
federal tax information at the earliest possible date, it is
necessary that this act take effect immediately.