Existing law establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority, within the California Health and Human Services Agency, for purposes including the assessment, coordination, and improvement of the state’s emergency medical services system.
This bill would require an emergency medical services provider who treats and releases or transports an individual to a medical facility who is experiencing a suspected or an actual overdose to report the incident to the authority. The bill requires the authority to report the data gathered pursuant to the bill to the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program managed by the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program.
Existing law requires the coroner to inquire into and determine the manner, circumstances, and cause of all violent, sudden,
or unusual deaths. Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors, by ordinance, to abolish the office of coroner and provide instead for the office of medical examiner, to be appointed by the board and to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the coroner.
This bill would require a peace officer who treats and releases or transports an individual to a medical facility who is experiencing a suspected or an actual overdose, or a coroner or medical examiner who evaluates an individual who died, in the coroner or medical examiner’s expert opinion, as the result of an overdose to report the data gathered pursuant to the bill to the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program. By imposing new duties on local officers, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The bill would exempt all the above reporters from civil or criminal liability for making a report in good faith.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health, within the California Health and Human Services Agency, and vests the department with certain duties, powers, functions, jurisdiction, and responsibilities over specified public health programs.
This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2025, the department to report the overdose information reported to the Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program pursuant to this bill, as specified, to the Senate and Assembly Health committees.
The California Constitution provides for the Right to Truth-in-Evidence, which requires a2/3 vote of the Legislature to exclude any relevant evidence from any criminal proceeding, as specified.
This bill would prohibit overdose information
reported by an emergency medical services provider or the authority from being used in a criminal investigation or prosecution, thereby requiring a2/3 vote.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.