120131.
(a) The following definitions shall apply for purposes of this section:(1) “Viral surveillance” means the monitoring of temporal or geographic circulation patterns of contagious viruses, including, but not limited to, those detailed in the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System.
(2) “Genomic sequencing” means any laboratory procedure that determines the order of all or most of the nucleotides in the genome of a disease-causing microbe, as per the CDC’s description.
(3) “Next-generation sequencing” refers to sequencing technologies that can process a large quantity of genetic material at a time, as per the CDC’s description.
(4) “Clinical laboratory” is a clinical laboratory as set forth in paragraph (8) of subdivision (a) of Section 1206 of the Business and Professions Code.
(5) “Public health laboratory” is a public health laboratory as described in Section 101150.
(b) The department, no later than January 1, 2024, shall complete an evaluation of the effectiveness of the state’s viral surveillance capacity, which shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) A comprehensive list of all public health laboratories and private clinical laboratories in California that conduct viral surveillance and genomic sequencing, or both, of patient laboratory samples.
(2) A comprehensive list of all research laboratories in California that conducted COVID-19 diagnostic testing pursuant to the waivers and allowances granted under federal and state law.
(3) The manner in which public health laboratories and private clinical laboratories that conduct viral surveillance communicate with other local and state public health and viral surveillance entities, including the frequency of communications.
(4) The type of information that is shared between entities and the manner by which information is shared.
(5) Recommendations on how to optimize the state’s viral surveillance capabilities.
(6) An evaluation of the funding and other resources needed to establish the “Viral Surveillance Hub” (VSH), including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(A) Funding needed to support staffing and activities related to the VSH.
(B) Logistics of specimen transport.
(C) Development of a comprehensive organism database for participating laboratories to access.
(D) Information technology infrastructure needed.
(7) An evaluation of the funding and resources to support public health laboratories.
(c) The department shall, no later than January 1, 2025, establish the VSH responsible for timely communication with any laboratory that conducts viral surveillance that identifies a potential novel virus or variant. In establishing VSH, the department shall take into consideration the recommendations of the assessment required under subdivision (b). VSH shall allow for the electronic transmittal of information by any laboratory that conducts viral surveillance.
(d) Each laboratory, beginning January 1, 2025, that conducts viral surveillance that identifies a potential novel virus or variant strongly suspected to be a pathogen shall report this to VSH within the appropriate timeframes established by the department that are sufficient to facilitate timely identification of potentially new viruses or variants. Each laboratory that conducts viral surveillance shall submit samples of each potential novel virus or variant strongly suspected to be a pathogen to VSH for further analysis and next-generation sequencing within the appropriate timeframes established by the department that are sufficient to facilitate timely identification of potentially new viruses or variants.
(e) VSH shall conduct next-generation sequencing of any samples of potentially new viruses or variants submitted to them by a viral surveillance facility. VSH may contract with an outside entity to conduct next-generation sequencing and analysis of submitted samples. The department shall have the resulting viral sequences published on an internet website designed to hold sequence data, such as GISAID, with a hyperlink on its internet website to the published viral sequences. No private patient information shall be published.
(f) VSH shall notify local health departments and the CDC upon confirmation that a new virus or variant has been detected in the population.