BILL NUMBER: AB 188	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	CHAPTER  645
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  NOVEMBER 5, 2009
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  NOVEMBER 4, 2009
	PASSED THE SENATE  OCTOBER 14, 2009
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  OCTOBER 26, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  OCTOBER 14, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 4, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Jones
   (Principal coauthors: Senators Alquist and Steinberg)

                        FEBRUARY 2, 2009

   An act relating to public health, making an appropriation
therefore, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 188, Jones. Medi-Cal: quality assurance fee revenue.
   Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the
State Department of Health Care Services, under which basic health
care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. The
Medi-Cal program is partially governed and funded as part of the
federal Medicaid Program.
   AB 1383 of the 2009-10 Regular Session of the Legislature, which
becomes effective January 1, 2010, requires the department to make
supplemental payments for certain services, as specified, to private
hospitals, nondesignated public hospitals, and designated public
hospitals, as defined, for subject federal fiscal years.
   These provisions in AB 1383 are subject to federal approval and
also impose, as a condition of participation in state-funded health
insurance programs other than the Medi-Cal program, a quality
assurance fee, as specified, on certain general acute care hospitals
through and including December 31, 2010. The provisions create the
Hospital Quality Assurance Revenue Fund in the State Treasury and
require that the money collected from the quality assurance fee be
deposited into the fund. The provisions provide that the moneys in
the fund shall, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be available
only for certain purposes, including providing the above-described
supplemental payments to hospitals and health care coverage for
children.
   This bill would appropriate $1,000,000 from the Private Hospital
Supplemental Fund and $1,000,000 from the Federal Trust Fund to the
department to pay the department's staffing and administrative costs
associated with the provisions of AB 1383, including costs of
workload associated with seeking the necessary federal approvals to
implement those provisions. The bill would also appropriate
$13,500,000,000 from the Hospital Quality Assurance Revenue Fund to
the department for the purposes prescribed by AB 1383 to be available
for expenditure until January 1, 2013. If the department obtains
federal approval, the bill would require the department to use the
money in the Hospital Quality Assurance Revenue Fund to reimburse
$1,000,000 to the Private Hospital Supplemental Fund. If the
department does not obtain federal approval, the bill would require
any unexpended moneys from the $1,000,000 appropriated to the
department from the Private Hospital Supplemental Fund pursuant to
this bill to revert to the Private Hospital Supplemental Fund.
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
   Appropriation: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  (a) There is hereby appropriated to the State
Department of Health Care Services the following sums:
   (1) To pay for the department's staffing and administrative costs
associated with Article 5.21 (commencing with Section 14167.1) and
Article 5.22 (commencing with Section 14167.31) of Chapter 7 of Part
3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, including costs
of workload associated with seeking the necessary federal approvals
from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to
implement Article 5.21 (commencing with Section 14167.1) and Article
5.22 (commencing with Section 14167.31) of Chapter 7 of Part 3 of
Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, one million dollars
($1,000,000) from the Private Hospital Supplemental Fund established
pursuant to Section 14166.12 of the Welfare and Institutions Code and
one million dollars ($1,000,000) from the Federal Trust Fund.
   (2) For the purposes specified in subdivisions (c) and (d) of
Section 14167.35 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, the sum of
thirteen billion five hundred million dollars ($13,500,000,000) from
the Hospital Quality Assurance Revenue Fund, to be available for
expenditure until January 1, 2013.
   (b) (1) If the department obtains federal approval for the
implementation of Article 5.21 (commencing with Section 14167.1) and
Article 5.22 (commencing with Section 14167.31) of Chapter 7 of Part
3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, moneys in the
Hospital Quality Assurance Revenue Fund shall be used to reimburse
the one million dollars ($1,000,000) appropriated from the Private
Hospital Supplemental Fund pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision
(a).
   (2) If the department does not obtain federal approval for the
implementation of Article 5.21 (commencing with Section 14167.1) and
Article 5.22 (commencing with Section 14167.31) of Chapter 7 of Part
3 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, any unexpended
moneys from the one million dollars ($1,000,000) appropriated to the
department from the Private Hospital Supplemental Fund pursuant to
paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) shall revert to the Private Hospital
Supplemental Fund.
  SEC. 2.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to make the necessary statutory changes to increase
Medi-Cal payments to hospitals and improve access to care at the
earliest possible time, it is necessary that this act take effect
immediately.