Today's Law As Amended


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SB-1090 Sexually transmitted diseases: outreach and screening services.(2015-2016)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.

 Section 120500 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

120500.
 As used in the Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Act (Section 27) “venereal diseases” means syphilis, gonorrhea, chancroid, lymphopathia venereum, granuloma inguinale, and chlamydia. Act, defined in Section 27, “sexually transmitted diseases” means diseases that are primarily transmitted through sexual contact. 

SEC. 2.

 Section 120505 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

120505.
 The department shall develop and review plans and provide leadership and consultation for, and participate in, a program for the prevention and control of venereal disease. sexually transmitted diseases. 

SEC. 3.

 Section 120510 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

120510.
 The department shall cooperate in the prevention, control, and cure of venereal diseases with physicians and surgeons; medical schools; public and private hospitals, dispensaries, and clinics; public and private school, college and university authorities; penal and charitable institutions; reform and industrial schools; detention homes; federal, state, local and district health officers, and boards of health, and all other health authorities; institutions caring for the mentally ill; and with any other persons, institutions, or agencies. sexually transmitted diseases with all of the following: 
(a) Physicians and surgeons.
(b) Medical schools.
(c) Public and private hospitals, dispensaries, and clinics.
(d) Administrators of public and private elementary and secondary schools and public and private postsecondary educational institutions.
(e) Penal and charitable institutions.
(f) Detention homes.
(g) Federal, state, local, and district health officers, boards of health, and all other health authorities.
(h) Institutions caring for the mentally ill.
(i) Any other persons, institutions, or agencies.

SEC. 4.

 Section 120511 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

120511.
 (a) To the extent funds are appropriated by the Legislature for these purposes, the department shall allocate funds to local health jurisdictions for sexually transmitted disease outreach, screening, and other core services in accordance, to the extent possible, with the following:
(1) Counties shall be targeted and prioritized based on population and incidence of sexually transmitted diseases.
(2) Funds shall be allocated to targeted counties in a manner that balances the need to spread funding to as many counties as possible and the need to provide meaningful services to each funded county.
(3) Each recipient county shall demonstrate to the department that the county has done all of the following:
(A) Identified priority target populations.
(B) Satisfactorily described its outreach protocols.
(C) Included community-based partners for outreach, screening, and other core services.
(D) Allocated resources for laboratory costs.
(4) The department shall develop measures for each county funded pursuant to this section to demonstrate accountability.
(b) In awarding funds pursuant to subdivision (a), the department may authorize innovative and impactful outreach, screening, and other core services, including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) Voluntary screening for sexually transmitted diseases among inmates and wards of county adult and juvenile correctional facilities. The department may provide assistance or guidance to the local health jurisdiction if necessary to secure participation by other county agencies.
(2) Social media platforms that allow a person to receive test results, share test results with partners, access treatment services, and reduce administrative costs.
(3) State-of-the-art testing modalities that ensure swift and accurate screening for sexually transmitted diseases.
(4) Community-based testing and disease investigation.
(c) The department shall monitor activities in funded counties, based on the accountability measures required under paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) in order to assess the effectiveness of outreach, screening, and other core services efforts.
(d) The department shall spend no more than 10 percent of any funds appropriated by the Legislature for purposes of this section for administrative costs.
(e) It is the intent of the Legislature that the services identified in this section are to enhance the services that are already provided. Therefore, nothing in this section shall be construed to require the department to replace existing services with the services provided for in subdivision (a) or to prevent the department from adding new services as may be appropriate.

SEC. 5.

 Section 120515 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

120515.
 The department shall investigate conditions affecting the prevention and control of venereal  sexually transmitted  diseases and approved procedures for prevention and control, and shall disseminate educational information relative thereto.

SEC. 6.

 Section 120525 of the Health and Safety Code is repealed.

120525.
 The department may provide medical, advisory, financial, or other assistance to organizations funded pursuant to Section 120511.

SEC. 7.

 Section 120525 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

120525.
 The department may provide medical, advisory, financial, or other assistance to organizations as may be approved by it.

SEC. 8.

 Section 120535 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

120535.
 Any state agency conducting a public hospital shall admit acute venereal  sexually transmitted  disease cases, when, in the opinion of the department or the local health officer having jurisdiction, persons infected with venereal  a sexually transmitted  disease may be a menace to public health.

SEC. 9.

 Section 120540 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

120540.
 The department may require any physician in attendance on a person infected infected,  or suspected of being infected infected,  with a venereal  sexually transmitted  disease infection to submit specimens as may be designated for examination, when in its opinion the procedure is reasonably necessary to carry out the provisions and purposes of this chapter.

SEC. 10.

 Section 120565 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

120565.
 If any a  person subject to proper venereal  sexually transmitted  disease control measures discontinues any control procedure required by this chapter, the agency administering the procedure procedure,  prior to the discontinuance discontinuance,  shall make reasonable efforts to determine whether the person is continuing to comply with the procedure elsewhere.

SEC. 11.

 Section 120575 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

120575.
 It is the duty of the local health officers to use every available means to ascertain the existence of cases of infectious venereal  sexually transmitted  diseases within their respective jurisdictions, to investigate all cases that are not, or probably are not, subject to proper control measures approved by the board, to ascertain so far as possible all sources of infection, and to take all measures reasonably necessary to prevent the transmission of infection.

SEC. 12.

 Section 120605 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

120605.
 Nothing in this  This  chapter shall not  be construed to interfere with the freedom of any adherent of teachings of any well-recognized religious sect, denomination, or organization to depend exclusively upon prayer for healing in accordance with the teachings of the religious sect, denomination, or organization. Any such  That  person, along with any person treating him or her, shall be exempt from all provisions of this chapter regarding venereal  sexually transmitted  diseases, except that the provisions of this code and the regulations of the board regarding compulsory reporting of communicable diseases and the quarantine of those diseases, and regarding callings that a person with venereal  a sexually transmitted  disease may not engage, shall apply.