BILL NUMBER: SB 246 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 29, 2006
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 23, 2006
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 19, 2006
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 8, 2006
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 6, 2005
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 20, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 18, 2005
INTRODUCED BY Senator Figueroa
(Coauthor: Senator Ortiz)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Sharon Runner and Strickland)
FEBRUARY 15, 2005
An act to add Section 1648 to the Health and Safety Code, relating
to human milk.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 246, Figueroa Human milk.
Existing law provides that the procurement, processing,
distribution, or use of human milk for human consumption constitutes
the rendition of a service, and not a sale of the human milk for any
purpose.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of tissue
banks by the State Department of Health Services.
This bill would require a hospital that collects, processes,
stores, or distributes human milk collected from a mother exclusively
for her own child to comply with specified standards until or unless
the department approves alternative standards. It would also exempt
a hospital from the tissue bank licensure and regulation requirements
for the purpose of collecting, processing, storing, or distributing
human milk collected from a mother exclusively for her own child. The
bill would exempt from any screening test requirement human milk
collected from a mother exclusively for her own child.
This bill would not apply to any hospital that collects,
processes, stores, or distributes milk from human milk banks or other
outside sources.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) There is consensus among health care experts and institutions
that breastfeeding is the superior method of feeding and nurturing
infants.
(b) The American Dietetic Association states that "human milk
provides optimal nutrition to the infant, with its dynamic
composition and the appropriate balance of nutrients provided in
easily digestible and bioavailable form."
(c) According to the American Academy of Pediatrics 2005 policy
statement, "human milk is species-specific, and all substitute
feeding preparations differ markedly from it, making human milk
uniquely superior for infant feeding." The policy statement also
asserts that "research in developed and developing countries of the
world, including middle-class populations in developed countries,
provides strong evidence that human milk feeding decreases the
incidence and severity of a wide range of infectious diseases,
including bacterial meningitis, bacteremia diarrhea, respiratory
tract infection, necrotizing enterocolitis, otitis media, urinary
tract infection, and late-onset sepsis in preterm infants. In
addition, postneonatal infant mortality rates in the United States
are reduced by 21 percent in breastfed infants. Some studies suggest
decreased rates of sudden infant death syndrome in the first year of
life and reduction of insulin-dependent (type 1) and
noninsulin-dependent (type 2) diabetes mellitus, lymphoma, leukemia,
Hodgkin's disease, overweight and obesity, hypercholesterolemia, and
asthma in older children and adults who were breastfed, compared with
individuals who were not breastfed.
(d) The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants be
exclusively breastfed for approximately six months before being
introduced to complementary foods.
(e) Too few women in California exclusively breastfeed their
infants in the early postpartum period, let alone in the first six
months of life, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
(f) There are also racial and ethnic disparities with regard to
breastfeeding rates. While 61.8 percent (down from 64 percent in
2001) of white women in California are exclusively breastfeeding in
the hospital, only 40 percent of Asians, 27 percent of Pacific
Islanders, 30 percent of African-American women, and 29 percent (down
from 30 percent in 2001) of Latinas are doing so.
(g) In "Breastfeeding: Investing in California's Future," the
Breastfeeding Promotion Committee Report to the California Department
of Health Services Primary Care and Family Health (1996) there was a
finding that "... women look to health care providers for
breastfeeding information and support; however, health care systems,
policies, and personnel often unknowingly interfere with the
initiation and continuation of breastfeeding." This report also
states that health care professionals are in a key position to effect
breastfeeding success, and promotional efforts will be successful
only if women who are encouraged to breastfeed encounter providers
who are able to respond to their needs.
(h) Current California law inadvertently discourages the feeding
of breast milk to infants in the hospital by requiring a hospital
that permits a mother to store her milk in a hospital refrigerator to
obtain and maintain a full tissue bank license.
(i) Hospitals that cannot complete the process for obtaining a
full tissue bank license cannot legally allow a mother to store her
milk in a refrigerator on the hospital premises.
(j) A mother whose infant is admitted to a hospital may not be
able to be physically present to breastfeed the infant at each
feeding time, and may wish to store her milk in a refrigerator or
freezer on the hospital premises. Many hospitals wish to permit
mothers to do this, but are unable to do so due to the lengthy and
complicated process required to obtain a full tissue bank license
from the State of California.
(k) It is the intent of the Legislature to adopt policies that
promote and encourage the breastfeeding of all infants, including
those who are hospitalized.
SEC. 2. Section 1648 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
1648. (a) A hospital that collects, processes, stores, or
distributes human milk collected from a mother exclusively for her
own child shall comply with the most current standards established
for the collection, processing, storage, or distribution of human
milk by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America until or
unless the department approves alternative standards.
(b) A hospital shall be exempt from the requirements of Chapter
4.1 (commencing with Section 1635) for the purpose of collecting,
processing, storing, or distributing human milk collected from a
mother exclusively for her own child.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no screening tests
shall be required to be performed on human milk collected from a
mother exclusively for her own child.
(d) The department shall assess hospital processes for collecting,
processing, storing, or distributing human milk pursuant to its
current practice, as required by Chapter 2 (commencing with Section
1250).
(e) This section does not apply to any hospital that collects,
processes, stores, or distributes milk from human milk banks or other
outside sources.