Jerry Brown OKs bills on autism, unlicensed drivers
Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
San Francisco Chronicle October 10, 2011 04:00 AM
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Sacramento --
On his final day to act on more than 140 bills, Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday waded into sensitive areas of health care and law enforcement, signing a bill requiring health plans to cover a key autism treatment and another that protects illegal immigrant drivers at police checkpoints.
The governor signed a measure allowing children as young as 12 to seek prevention treatment, such as vaccinations, for sexually transmitted diseases such as HPV without parental consent. Brown vetoed a bill that would have given women additional information about their mammography results.
The governor signaled reluctance in signing the autism bill, SB946 by state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. It mandates that health plans cover applied behavioral analysis therapy for children with autism, beginning in July 2012 and continuing for two years.
As a result, the mandate will either be temporary or act as a bridge to 2014, when the federal government is set to issue minimum coverage standards as part of the health care overhaul.
"While this bill provides relief for families of autistic children and some clarity for health plans, insurers and providers, there are remaining questions about effectiveness, duration, and the cost of the covered treatment that must be sorted out," the governor wrote in a signing statement.
The mandate does not apply to the state's Medi-Cal program, and Steinberg said that was because of the potential cost to the state's budget.
The state Department of Managed Health Care had, earlier in the year, entered into settlements with major health care providers that ostensibly addressed the issue, but advocates and parents of autistic children labeled it a "sham" agreement.
Bob Wright, co-founder of Autism Speaks, a national advocacy organization, hailed both Steinberg and Brown.
"Courage and common sense have prevailed as Gov. Brown has chosen to side with California families and taxpayers, rather than the health insurance lobby," Wright said.
Insurance companies argued that applied behavioral analysis, which has been called the most effective treatment for autism, is not a medical treatment. Autism diagnoses have been growing rapidly, and about 1 in 110 children has an autism spectrum disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health insurers were unhappy with the governor's decision, which they estimated would add $850 million in costs to the state's health care system.
"Shifting that nonmedical cost burden onto private insurers won't make the cost go away, it will simply make insurance harder to get and less affordable and accessible for millions of Californians," said Patrick Johnson, president of the California Association of Health Plans. "Nor will it have a benefit to the many low-income and disadvantaged children covered under public health plans, as they were exempted from coverage in this legislation."
The behavioral treatments are designed for each child and often take months of fortification. Therapists seek to reinforce behavior by focusing on environmental surroundings that impact a certain behavior, in a process that has been described as rewiring the brain.
Brown also signed a bill prohibiting police from arresting many unlicensed drivers and impounding their cars at drunken-driving checkpoints.
Advocates for illegal immigrants backed the bill, AB353 by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, saying the immigrants are in a costly bind. They can't obtain driver's licenses, but must drive to support themselves, and were significantly impacted by the fees for impounded cars.
Under the law, police cannot impound a car at a checkpoint if the only offense was driving without a license.
On his final day to act on more than 140 bills, Gov. Jerry Brown on Sunday waded into sensitive areas of health care and law enforcement, signing a bill requiring health plans to cover a key autism treatment and another that protects illegal immigrant drivers at police checkpoints.
The governor signed a measure allowing children as young as 12 to seek prevention treatment, such as vaccinations, for sexually transmitted diseases such as HPV without parental consent. Brown vetoed a bill that would have given women additional information about their mammography results.
The governor signaled reluctance in signing the autism bill, SB946 by state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. It mandates that health plans cover applied behavioral analysis therapy for children with autism, beginning in July 2012 and continuing for two years.
As a result, the mandate will either be temporary or act as a bridge to 2014, when the federal government is set to issue minimum coverage standards as part of the health care overhaul.
"While this bill provides relief for families of autistic children and some clarity for health plans, insurers and providers, there are remaining questions about effectiveness, duration, and the cost of the covered treatment that must be sorted out," the governor wrote in a signing statement.
The mandate does not apply to the state's Medi-Cal program, and Steinberg said that was because of the potential cost to the state's budget.
'Critical victory'
"This is a critical victory for thousands of California children and families. For many of them, having this therapy covered by their insurance is the difference between despair and hope," Steinberg said in a statement.The state Department of Managed Health Care had, earlier in the year, entered into settlements with major health care providers that ostensibly addressed the issue, but advocates and parents of autistic children labeled it a "sham" agreement.
Bob Wright, co-founder of Autism Speaks, a national advocacy organization, hailed both Steinberg and Brown.
"Courage and common sense have prevailed as Gov. Brown has chosen to side with California families and taxpayers, rather than the health insurance lobby," Wright said.
Insurance companies argued that applied behavioral analysis, which has been called the most effective treatment for autism, is not a medical treatment. Autism diagnoses have been growing rapidly, and about 1 in 110 children has an autism spectrum disorder, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health insurers were unhappy with the governor's decision, which they estimated would add $850 million in costs to the state's health care system.
"Shifting that nonmedical cost burden onto private insurers won't make the cost go away, it will simply make insurance harder to get and less affordable and accessible for millions of Californians," said Patrick Johnson, president of the California Association of Health Plans. "Nor will it have a benefit to the many low-income and disadvantaged children covered under public health plans, as they were exempted from coverage in this legislation."
The behavioral treatments are designed for each child and often take months of fortification. Therapists seek to reinforce behavior by focusing on environmental surroundings that impact a certain behavior, in a process that has been described as rewiring the brain.
Brown also signed a bill prohibiting police from arresting many unlicensed drivers and impounding their cars at drunken-driving checkpoints.
Advocates for illegal immigrants backed the bill, AB353 by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, saying the immigrants are in a costly bind. They can't obtain driver's licenses, but must drive to support themselves, and were significantly impacted by the fees for impounded cars.
Under the law, police cannot impound a car at a checkpoint if the only offense was driving without a license.
Citation, no arrest
Officers must make a reasonable effort to contact the registered owner of the car, or a licensed driver authorized by the registered owner to pick up the car. Police may issue a citation for driving without a license but cannot arrest the driver.
Mark Silverman, director of immigration policy at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said the law helps build trust between police and the immigrant community.
"It's good for the immigrants, it's good for public safety, it's good for everyone but the towing companies," Silverman said.
But Dan Rosenberg, who testified against the bill after his 25-year-old son was killed last year by an unlicensed driver in San Francisco, was furious when he learned Brown had signed the bill. He vowed to work to repeal it.
"He's just sentenced hundreds of people to death this year by signing this bill," said Rosenberg, who lives in Westlake Village (Los Angeles County).
Studies by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety have found that unlicensed drivers are more dangerous than licensed drivers.
The governor's signing of AB499 by Assemblywoman Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, allows children as young as 12 to consent to preventative care for sexually transmitted diseases. Young people already can seek treatment for infections, but the bill allows access to vaccines for human papilloma virus and Hepatitis B.
In another apparently difficult decision, Brown vetoed SB791 by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, which would have required doctors to notify women who have dense breast tissue that additional tests could be beneficial.
In his veto message, Brown wrote that he struggled in deciding whether the information would help women.
"If the state must mandate a notice about breast density - and I'm not certain it should - such a notice must be more carefully crafted, with words that educate more than they prescribe," Brown wrote.
Other bills
Gov. Jerry Brown also took action on the following bills:-- AB300, by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, which Brown signed, creates health and safety regulations for people who do tattooing and body art.
-- SB676, by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, which Brown vetoed, would have created a pilot program for industrial hemp production. Brown cited federal laws banning all cannabis, while saying he'd like those laws to change.
-- SB914 by Leno, which Brown vetoed, would have required law enforcement officers to obtain a search warrant before inspecting the contents of a cell phone belonging to a person they arrest.
-- AB1044, by Assemblywoman Betsy Butler, D-Los Angeles, which the governor vetoed, would have allowed vendors and other people who receive IOUs from the state during fiscal crises to use those IOUs to pay taxes or fees owed to the Board of Equalization.
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