Amended  IN  Senate  April 05, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 744

Introduced by Senator Glazer
(Coauthor: Senator Wilk)

February 19, 2021

An act to add Chapter 3.75 (commencing with Section 120265.1) 120265) to Part 1 of Division 105 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to public health.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 744, as amended, Glazer. Communicable diseases: respiratory virus disease information.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health and sets forth its powers and duties, including the administration of provisions relating to the prevention and control of communicable diseases. Existing regulations require certain communicable diseases to be reported to local health officers by health providers, using a uniform Confidential Morbidity Report (CMR).
This bill would require the department to collect and make publicly available, in machine-readable form, specified information from health providers regarding incidences of communicable respiratory viruses. disease. The bill would require the department to make the information available available, during a declared public health emergency, both as individual records and, on a weekly basis, a weekly summary, identified by county, of the information collected in each field of the CMR. collected. The bill would require certain information to be removed from the reports to prevent privacy violations. The bill would also require that any report of a communicable respiratory disease by a health care provider to a local health officer and any electronic tool used by a local health officer for the purposes of reporting cases of a communicable respiratory disease include information on the type of housing where the patient resides, the number of people in the patient’s household, the occupation and workplace of the patient, and the cities that the patient has traveled to in the last 14 days. To the extent that this bill would increase the duties of local health officers, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
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.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.Chapter 3.75 (commencing with Section 120265.1) is added to Part 1 of Division 105 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

SECTION 1.

 Chapter 3.75 (commencing with Section 120265) is added to Part 1 of Division 105 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
CHAPTER  3.75. Communicable Respiratory Virus Disease Information

120265.
 (a) An electronic tool used by a local health officer, as defined by subdivision (a) of Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations, for the purpose of reporting cases of communicable respiratory disease to the State Department of Public Health, as required by Sections 2500 and 2502 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations, shall include the capacity to collect and report data relating to all of the following:
(1) The type of housing where the patient resides.
(2) The number of people in the household where the patient resides.
(3) The occupation and workplace of the patient.
(4) The cities that the patient has traveled to in the previous 14 days.
(b) In addition to the information required to be reported pursuant to Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations, a health care provider, as defined by subdivision (a) of Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations, that knows of, or is in attendance on, a case or suspected case of any of the communicable respiratory diseases or conditions listed in subdivision (j) of Section 2500 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations shall report to the local health officer for the jurisdiction where the patient resides, all of the following:
(1) The type of housing where the patient resides.
(2) The number of people in the household where the patient resides.
(3) The occupation and workplace of the patient.
(4) The cities that the patient has traveled to in the previous 14 days.

120265.1.
 (a) The State Department of Public Health shall collect and make publicly available, in machine-readable form, information described in Sections 120265.2 and 120265.3, obtained from health providers regarding incidences of communicable respiratory viruses, as provided in this chapter. The information shall be collected using the Confidential Morbidity Report (CMR), collected in accordance with Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 2500) of Division 1 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations. Regulations in cases of communicable respiratory disease.
(b) In addition to making individual record information made available pursuant to subdivision (a), the department department, during a declared public health emergency, shall make publicly available, in the same form, a weekly summary, identified by county, of the information collected in each field of the CMR. response to each question asked in accordance with Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 2500) of Division 1 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations in cases of communicable respiratory disease.
(c) To prevent violations of privacy, before releasing this information an individual record, the department shall remove all of the following information from the reports: from the reports all of the information listed in the Safe Harbor provisions of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 (Section 164.514(b)(2) of Title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations).

(1)Names.

(2)Birth dates.

(3)Telephone numbers.

(4)Email addresses.

(5)Addresses, with the exception of the first three digits of the ZIP Code.

120265.2.

An individual record shall include all of the following initial information:

(a)Age, by five-year interval groups.

(b)Race or ethnicity.

(c)Gender.

(d)Date of symptom onset or date of case record.

(e)Whether the person had a close contact who tested positive for the disease.

(f)Whether the person had a household contact who tested positive for the disease.

(g)Whether the person had a community contact who tested positive for the disease, and if so, the type of community setting where the contact occurred.

(h)Whether the person had a health care contact who tested positive for the disease.

(i)Whether the person had a workplace contact who tested positive for the disease, and if so, the name and address of the workplace.

(j)Which of the following categories describes the person’s housing status at the time of infection:

(1)Single-family home.

(2)Hotel or motel.

(3)Nursing home or assisted living facility.

(4)Rehabilitation facility.

(5)Mobilehome.

(6)Apartment.

(7)Acute care inpatient facility.

(8)Correctional facility.

(9)Group home.

(10)Homeless shelter.

(11)Unhomed.

(12)Other.

(k)Household composition, including both of the following:

(1)Number of child and adult household members.

(2)Number of household members over 65 years of age.

(l)Occupation, by industry.

(m)Employment status, from the following options:

(1)Employed, and if so, name and location of workplace.

(2)Self-employed.

(3)Unemployed.

(4)Retired.

(5)Disabled.

(6)Student.

(n)Whether the person works in any of the following sensitive settings:

(1)Health care facility.

(2)Skilled nursing or long term care facility.

(3)Childcare facility.

(4)K–12 educational facility.

(5)Correctional facility.

(6)Homeless shelter.

(o)Travel status, as follows:

(1)Whether the person traveled domestically in the previous 14 days, and if so, to what city and state.

(2)Whether the person traveled internationally in the previous 14 days, and if so, to what country.

(p)Whether the person was hospitalized for the disease.

(q)The person’s count of chronic conditions.

120265.3.

The following information, collected at the time an individual is tested for a suspected communicable respiratory virus, shall also be collected by the department:

(a)Whether the person had a close contact known to have tested positive, and if so, the following information:

(1)The contact date.

(2)The setting, from the following:

(A)Household.

(B)Workplace.

(C)Community.

(b)Whether the person is currently working, and if so, the job, workplace name, and location.

(c)Which of the following categories describes the person’s housing status at the time of infection:

(1)Single-family home.

(2)Hotel or motel.

(3)Nursing home or assisted living facility.

(4)Rehabilitation facility.

(5)Mobilehome.

(6)Apartment.

(7)Acute care inpatient facility.

(8)Correctional facility.

(9)Group home.

(10)Homeless shelter.

(11)Unhomed.

(12)Other.

(d)ZIP Code.

(e)Number of child, adult, and elderly household members.

(f)Whether the person has traveled within the previous 14 days and if so, to what city, state, or country, and by what mode of travel, such as car, bus, train, or air.

SEC. 2.

 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.