Bill Text: CA AB7 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: State employment: salary freeze.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-01 - Died pursuant to Art. IV, Sec. 10(c) of the Constitution. From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB7 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AB7-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 7	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Steinberg

                        DECEMBER 6, 2010

   An act relating to Medi-Cal, and declaring the urgency thereof, to
take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 7, as introduced, Steinberg. Medi-Cal: hospitals: quality
assurance fee.
   Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the
State Department of Health Care Services, under which basic health
care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. The
Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid
provisions.
   Existing law, subject to federal approval, imposes a quality
assurance fee, as specified, on certain general acute care hospitals
through and including December 31, 2010. Existing law creates the
Hospital Quality Assurance Revenue Fund in the State Treasury and
requires that the money collected from the quality assurance fee be
deposited into the fund.
   Existing law, subject to federal approval, requires the department
to make supplemental payments for certain services, as specified, to
private hospitals, nondesignated public hospitals, and designated
public hospitals, as defined, for subject fiscal years, as defined.
Existing law provides that the moneys in the Hospital Quality
Assurance Revenue Fund shall, upon appropriation by the Legislature,
be available only for certain purposes, including providing the
above-described supplemental payments to hospitals.
   This bill would provide that it is the intent of the Legislature
to enact legislation that would impose a quality assurance fee to be
paid by hospitals, which would be used to increase federal financial
participation in order to make supplemental Medi-Cal payments to
hospitals through June 30, 2011. This bill would provide that it is
the intent of the Legislature that the quality assurance fee be
implemented only if specified conditions are met.
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated
local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares both of the
following:
   (a) The Legislature continues to recognize the essential role that
hospitals play in serving the state's Medi-Cal beneficiaries. To
that end, it has been, and remains, the intent of the Legislature to
preserve funding for hospitals and to obtain all available federal
funds to make supplemental Medi-Cal payments to hospitals.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that funding provided to
hospitals through a hospital quality assurance fee be implemented
with the goal of increasing access to care and stabilizing hospital
rates through supplemental Medi-Cal payments to hospitals.
  SEC. 2.  (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would impose a quality assurance fee to be paid by
hospitals, which would be used to increase federal financial
participation in order to make supplemental Medi-Cal payments to
hospitals through June 30, 2011.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that
would require the State Department of Health Care Services to obtain
the necessary federal approvals to implement the quality assurance
fee described in subdivision (a) in order to make supplemental
Medi-Cal payments to hospitals for the period January 1, 2011,
through June 30, 2011.
   (c) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that
would require the quality assurance fee be implemented only if all of
the following conditions are met:
   (1) The quality assurance fee is established in consultation with
the hospital community.
   (2) The quality assurance fee, including any interest earned after
collection by the department, is deposited in a segregated fund
apart from the General Fund.
   (3) No hospital shall be required to pay the quality assurance fee
to the department unless and until the state receives and maintains
federal approval of the quality assurance fee and related
supplemental payments to hospitals.
   (4) The full amount of the quality assurance fee assessed and
collected remains available only for the purposes specified by the
Legislature.
  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 make the necessary statutory changes to increase
Medi-Cal payments to hospitals and improve access at the earliest
possible time, so as to allow this act to be operative as soon as
approval from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
is obtained by the State Department of Health Care Services, it is
necessary that this act take effect immediately.