Bill Text: CA AB35 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Civil damages: medical malpractice.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 37-3)
Status: (Passed) 2022-05-23 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 17, Statutes of 2022. [AB35 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB35-Amended.html
Amended
IN
Senate
April 27, 2022 |
Amended
IN
Senate
July 01, 2021 |
Amended
IN
Assembly
April 28, 2021 |
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 24, 2021 |
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 15, 2021 |
Introduced by Assembly Member (Principal coauthors: Assembly Members Berman and Stone) (Principal coauthors: Senators Hertzberg and Laird) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Aguiar-Curry, Boerner Horvath, Mia Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Carrillo, Cervantes, Cunningham, Flora, Friedman, Gipson, Holden, Irwin, Kalra, Lee, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Blanca Rubio, Ting, Waldron, Akilah Weber, and Wood) (Coauthors: Senators Caballero, Durazo, Gonzalez, Hurtado, Kamlager, Limón, Portantino, Stern, Roth, Rubio, Wieckowski, and Wiener) |
December 07, 2020 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
Existing law prohibits a person, among others, from making or disseminating in any advertising device, or in any manner or means whatever, including over the internet, any statement concerning real or personal property or services that is untrue or misleading, as specified. Existing law defines libel as a false and unprivileged publication, including by writing, printing, or picture, that exposes any person to hatred, contempt, and ridicule, among other things.
This bill would require a person that operates a social media platform, as defined, to disclose whether or not that social media platform has a policy or mechanism in place to address the spread of misinformation, as specified. The bill would require the disclosure to be made easily accessible on the social media platform’s website and mobile application. The bill would authorize the
Attorney General or any district attorney, county counsel, or city attorney to enforce violations of its provisions and would subject a person to a civil penalty of a specified amount depending on the number of violations.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares that the purpose and intent of the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) will be served by updating key provisions. Nothing contained herein shall be interpreted in a manner to alter or nullify existing case law interpreting MICRA and its statutory provisions.SEC. 2.
Section 6146 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:6146.
(a) An attorney shall not contract for or collect a contingency fee for representing any person seeking damages in connection with an action for injury or damage against a health care provider based upon such person’s alleged professional negligence in excess of the following limits:(1)Forty percent of the first fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) recovered.
(2)Thirty-three and one-third percent of the next fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) recovered.
(3)Twenty-five percent of the next five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) recovered.
(4) Fifteen percent of any amount on which the recovery exceeds six hundred thousand dollars ($600,000).
SEC. 3.
Section 3333.2 of the Civil Code is amended to read:3333.2.
(a) In any action for injury against a health care provider or health care institution based on professional negligence, the injured plaintiff shall be entitled to recover noneconomic losses to compensate for pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement and other nonpecuniary(b)In no action shall the amount of damages for noneconomic losses exceed two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000).
(c)
(2)
SEC. 4.
Section 667.7 of the Code of Civil Procedure is amended to read:667.7.
(a) In any action for injury or damages against a provider of health care services, a superior court shall, at the request of either party, enter a judgment ordering that money damages or its equivalent for future damages of the judgment creditor be paid in whole or in part by periodic payments rather than by a lump-sum payment if the award equals or exceeds two hundred fifty thousand dollarsSEC. 5.
Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 104340) is added to Part 2 of Division 103 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:CHAPTER 3. Expressions of Sympathy, Benevolence, or Fault in Health Care
104340.
(a) Statements, writings, or benevolent gestures expressing sympathy, regret, a general sense of benevolence, or suggesting, reflecting, or accepting fault relating to the pain, suffering, or death of a person, or to an adverse patient safety event or unexpected health care outcome, in relation to an act or omission to act in the provision of or failure to provide health care, and made to that person or the family or representative of that person prior to the filing of a lawsuit or demand for arbitration, shall be confidential, privileged, protected, not subject to subpoena, discovery, or disclosure, and shall not be used or admitted into evidence in any civil, administrative, regulatory, licensing, or disciplinary board, agency, or body action or proceeding, and shall not be used or admitted in relation to any sanction, penalty, or other liability, as evidence of an admission of liability or for any other purpose, and all such communications, whether verbal, electronic, in writing, or in any other form, shall also be entitled to the privileges and protections set forth in Sections 1119, 1152, 1157, and 1160 of the Evidence Code.SEC. 6.
If any provision of this act, or any part of this act, or the application of any provision or part to any person or circumstances, is for any reason held to be invalid, the remaining provisions and parts, and application of the remaining provisions and parts, shall not be affected, but shall remain in full force and effect, and to this end, the provisions and parts of this act are severable. It is the intent of the Legislature that this act would have been enacted regardless of whether any invalid provision or part had been included or any invalid application had been made.(a)A person that operates a social media platform shall disclose whether or not that social media platform has a policy or mechanism in place to address the spread of misinformation with respect to, at a minimum, all of the following:
(1)Reducing the spread of misinformation that contributes to the risk of imminent violence or physical harm.
(2)Reducing the spread of harmful, verifiably inauthentic content.
(3)Practices intended to deceptively and substantially manipulate or disrupt the behavior of users on the social media platform.
(b)A person that operates a social media platform shall make the disclosure required by subdivision (a) easily accessible on the social media platform’s internet website and mobile application, as applicable.
(c)(1)A person that is in violation of this section shall be subject to
a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed the following:
(A)Five thousand dollars ($5,000) for the first violation.
(B)Ten thousand dollars ($10,000) for the second violation.
(C)Twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) for the third and each subsequent violation.
(2)The civil penalty prescribed by this subdivision shall be assessed and recovered in a civil action brought in the name of the people of the State of California by the Attorney General or by any district attorney, county counsel, or city attorney in any court of competent jurisdiction.
(3)If an action is brought by the Attorney General, one-half of the penalty collected pursuant to this section shall be paid to the treasurer of the county in which the judgment was entered, and one-half to the State Treasurer. If brought by a district attorney or county counsel, the entire amount of the penalty collected shall be paid to the
treasurer of the county in which the judgment was entered. If brought by a city attorney or city prosecutor, one-half of the penalty shall be paid to the treasurer of the county in which the judgment was entered and one-half to the city.
(d)For purposes of this section:
(1)“Person” means a natural person or a legal entity.
(2)(A)“Social media platform” means an internet-based service that
generated at least one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) in gross revenue during the preceding calendar year and allows individuals to do all of the following:
(i)Construct a public or semipublic profile within a bounded system created by the service.
(ii)Create a list of other users with whom an individual shares a connection within the system.
(iii)View and navigate a list of other users’ individual connections.
(B)“Social media platform” does not include any of the following:
(i)Electronic mail and direct messaging between users or groups of users.
(ii)A comment section on a digital news internet website, or consumer reviews of products and services on an online commerce internet website.
(iii)An internet-based subscription
streaming service that is offered to consumers for the exclusive purpose of transmitting licensed media, including audio or video files, in a continuous flow from the internet-based service to the end user.
(iv)Services that operate for the sole purpose of cloud storage or shared document or file collaboration.
(v)Services that operate for the sole purpose of providing, creating, or interacting with data visualization platforms, libraries, or hubs.
(e)The duties and obligations imposed by this chapter are cumulative to any other duties or obligations imposed
under other law and shall not be construed to relieve any party from any duties or obligations imposed under other law.