By Kristy Wiese
Legislative Advocate

Prior to adjourning for summer recess on July 16, Governor Newsom and legislators were busy with ongoing budget negotiations and bills moving to the second house. This year has been unlike others in recent memory. After ongoing negotiations between the Governor and Legislature – including a placeholder spending plan to meet Constitutional requirements – on June 12, Governor Newsom and Legislative leaders announced an agreement on the 2021-22 State Budget, and Newsom signed the majority of the record $262.6 billion agreement. A few days later the remainder of the spending plan and budget trailer bills were passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. The ultimate agreement reflected the remainder of the outstanding issues not passed prior to the July 1 fiscal year spending plan deadline. The agreement ranged from wildfire prevention and drought response to health care and broadband.

Newsom and legislative leaders called the budget “the largest recovery plan in the nation” and a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine what California’s future can look like.” It includes record-high reserves of $25.2 billion and record-high education funding of $93.7 billion. Major budget priorities include additional funding for housing and homelessness, a universal transitional kindergarten plan, expansion of Medi-Cal to undocumented adults over the age of 50, and record investments in the state’s broadband infrastructure.

While the main budget bill and trailer bills have been passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor, we anticipate additional revisions to some of the larger policy goals in the budget and trailer bills to be amended until the Legislature adjourns for the year on September 10.

CANP continues to be active before the Legislature and Newsom Administration. CANP’s high-priority AB 852 (Wood), the “Clean-up” bill for AB 890 that addressed some of the unresolved issues, as well as made some general corrections to the Business and Professions Code to reflect the change to NP practice, has now become a two-year bill due to ongoing discussions within the Joint Legislative Sunset Review Committee process and the Nurse Practitioner Advisory Committee around the implementation of AB 890. This means that the bill will remain in the Senate and is a vehicle that can move in 2022.

Bills supported by CANP that continue to advance through the legislative process include:

• AB 369 (Kamlager), which will require the State Department of Health Care Services to implement a program of presumptive Medi-Cal eligibility for persons experiencing homelessness and require the department to authorize an enrolled Medi-Cal provider to issue a temporary Medi-Cal benefits identification.
• AB 925 (Dahle), which will authorize law enforcement agencies to seek reimbursement from the state for providers to offset to cost of sexual assault examinations.
• SB 65 (Skinner), which will require comprehensive investigations into maternal and infant mortality and morbidity, improve data collection and research on socio-economic factors that contribute to negative birth outcomes, expand postpartum health care for parents and babies, and improve access to health options like doulas and midwives.
• SB 306 (Pan), which names the prescribing of antibiotics to the sexual partner of a patient diagnosed with an STD as “expedited partner therapy” or “EPT” and requires health care providers to include EPT on a prescription if they are unable to obtain the name of the patient’s sexual partner. It also allows pharmacists to dispense the prescription without a name on the label if the prescription includes “EPT.”
• SB 365 (Caballero), which mandates Medi-Cal reimbursement for e-consult services provided by Medi-Cal providers.
• SB 380 (Eggman), which reduces certain administrative barriers under the End of Life Option Act and deletes the Act’s sunset date.

Beyond the Budget and legislation, CANP continues to work with the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) on the implementation of AB 890. On July 13, the BRN’s Nurse Practitioner Advisory Committee (NPAC) held an AB 890 Interested Parties Meeting. The sole purpose of the meeting was to hear public comments from stakeholders regarding the implementation of AB 890. The meeting lasted for four hours and over 230 people participated, and dozens provided public comment. The meeting was focused on components of the bill including the transition to practice and independent practice. CANP urged the BRN for the transition to practice to happen immediately. The BRN is currently doing a legal analysis of AB 890 and will present the completed analysis at the next BRN meeting on August 4.

On a broader scale, California’s reopening from COVID-19 has been at the forefront in Sacramento, with some questioning if the state reopened too soon. On June 15, California lifted most of its Covid-19 restrictions as part of a grand reopening in which the state ended capacity limits, physical distancing, and mask requirements for those vaccinated. In the last month, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been rising, and public health officials are worried as they contend with the more infectious Delta variant and the slow pace of vaccinations in some communities. These increases in COVID-19 infections are prompting partial, localized reversals of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to lift most of the pandemic restrictions on June 15.