Report 2018-116 Recommendation Responses
Report 2018-116: San Diego's Hepatitis A Outbreak: By Acting More Quickly, the County and City of San Diego Might Have Reduced the Spread of the Disease (Release Date: December 2018)
Recommendation for Legislative Action
To ensure that each local public entity has the information necessary to adequately respond and protect the public health of its residents during disease outbreaks, the Legislature should enact legislation requiring local health officers to promptly notify and update those local public entities within the health officers' jurisdictions about communicable disease outbreaks that may affect them. The legislation should also require health officers to make available relevant information to these local public entities, including the locations of concentrations of cases, the number of residents affected, and the measures that the local public entities should take to assist with outbreak response efforts.
Description of Legislative Action
AB 262 requires a local health officer, during an outbreak of a communicable disease, or upon the imminent and proximate threat of a communicable disease outbreak or epidemic that threatens the public's health, to notify and update governmental entities within the health officer's jurisdiction if, in the opinion of the local health officer, action or inaction on the part of the governmental entity might affect outbreak response efforts. This statute also requires a local health officer to make any relevant information available to governmental entities within their jurisdiction.
- Legislative Action Current As-of: December 2019
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Legislation Enacted
Description of Legislative Action
AB 262 would require the local health office to make any relevant information available to governmental entities and would require both the local health officer and the governmental entities to comply with applicable state and federal privacy laws with regard to information that the health officer provides to the governmental entities.
- Legislative Action Current As-of: June 2019
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Legislation Introduced
Description of Legislative Action
AB 262 would specifically require a local health officer to notify and update the local public entities within the health officer's jurisdiction about communicable disease outbreaks that may affect them, and make relevant information available to those entities.
- Legislative Action Current As-of: March 2019