Official Summary Text
AB 2353, as amended, Pacheco.
Health Mandates Review Program.
Existing law requests the University of California to establish the California Health Benefit Review Program (CHBRP) to assess legislation proposing to mandate a health care benefit or service or repeal a mandated benefit or service and to prepare a written analysis. Existing law authorizes an appropriate policy or fiscal committee chairperson, the Speaker of the Assembly, or the President pro Tempore of the Senate to request that written analysis. Under existing law, a written analysis is requested to be provided to the Legislature not later than 60 days after a request for analysis is made. Existing law establishes the Health Care Benefits Fund, funded by an annual fee on health care service plans and health insurers, to support the University of California and CHBRP.
This bill would request the University of California to establish the Health Mandates Review Program to assess legislation proposing to mandate new or additional services or activities for a designated provider, beginning no later than January 1, 2028. The bill would require the appropriate policy or fiscal committee within the legislation’s house of origin to request the program to assess legislation if the legislation is expected to affect the operations of a majority of the state’s hospitals, or a majority of hospitals within a recognized class of hospitals, by requiring specified actions. The bill would request the Health Mandates Review Program to provide a written analysis of the legislation, as specified, and would request that the analysis include information on specified impacts. The bill would request that the program publish an annual summary of legislation it analyzed and that it convene a workgroup of members with relevant expertise in hospital finance or
operations to advise on the development and implementation of the program.
This bill would establish the Health Care Mandates Fund in the State Treasury to support the University of California and its work in implementing the Health Mandates Review Program, including providing bill analyses. The bill would require the Department of Health Care Access and Information to annually transfer an unspecified amount from the California Health Data and Planning Fund to the Health Care Mandates Fund starting in the 2027–28 fiscal year.
This bill would require the Department of Health Care Access and Information to seek to partner with the University of California to develop a plan to establish the Center for Health Provider Policy Impact to assess and evaluate the impact of state and federal
policies on hospitals. The bill would require the center to evaluate anticipated and actual impacts of proposed policies on health care delivery, access, workforce, and system sustainability and would require the center to create reports, at least annually, as specified. The bill would authorize the Legislature to request that the center review specific legislation or issues. The bill would establish the Health Provider Impact Fund. The bill would require the department to assess a fee for each hospital for the costs required to fund the above-described activities, as specified, thus imposing a tax. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2033.