AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 29, 2022
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 19, 2022
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 14, 2022
SENATE BILL No. 1245
Introduced by Senator Kamlager
(Coauthors: Senators Gonzalez, Hertzberg, and Stern)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Carrillo, Friedman, Cristina Garcia, and Jones-Sawyer) Jones-Sawyer, and Santiago)
February 17, 2022
An act to add Article 7 (commencing with Section 123641) to Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 106 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to abortion.
legislative counsel’s digest
SB 1245, as amended, Kamlager. Los Angeles County Abortion Access Safe Haven Pilot Program.
Existing la w, the Reproducti ve Pri vacy Act, pro vides that e very individual possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to their personal reproducti ve decisions, including the fundamental right to choose to bear a child or to choose and to obtain an abortion.
This bill would establish, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, the Los Angeles County Abortion Access Safe Ha ven Pilot Program for the purpose of expanding and improving access to reproductive and sexual health care, including abortion, in the County of Los Angeles.
The bill would require any funds allocated for the Los Angeles County Abortion Access Safe Haven Pilot Program to be used by the County of Los Angeles to administer a pilot project to support inno vative approaches and patient-centered collaborations to safe guard patient
96 access to abortions, regardless of residency. expand and improve access to se xual and r eproductive health car e and to maintain a financial reporting system. The bill w ould authorize the funds to be used for implementing recommendations from the County of Los Angeles, including building secure infrastructure, among other things. The bill would require the County of Los Angeles to provide an annual report to the Le gislature on the pr ojects and collabor ations funded by the program.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
line 1 SECTION 1. The Le gislature finds and declares all of the line 2 following:
line 3 (a) Abortion care is a constitutional right and an inte gral part line 4 of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care. line 5 (b) In May 2019, Go vernor Ga vin Ne wsom signed a line 6 Proclamation on Reproductive Freedom reaffirming California’s line 7 commitment to ensuring access to reproductive health care services, line 8 including abortion.
line 9 (c) If the United States Supreme Court overturns the protections line 10 under Roe v. Wade or allows a previability ban to remain in place, line 11 people in o ver one-half of the states in this country , o ver line 12 36,000,000 women and other people who may become pregnant, line 13 will lose access to abortion care.
line 14 (d) California is committed to building upon existing protections line 15 to the right to abortion and implementing inno vative and bold line 16 programs and policies to truly be a reproductive freedom state. line 17 (e) The County of Los Angeles accounts for over one-third of line 18 all abortions in California and is home to 28 percent of the state’s line 19 population.
line 20 (f) The County of Los Angeles has made a commitment to health line 21 equity and is preparing to become a haven for reproductive health line 22 care access.
line 23 (g) The State of California should create a pilot project in the line 24 County of Los Angeles for the purpose of advancing reproductive line 25 and sexual health care, specifically abortion, in the county. line 26 (h) On January 25, 2022, the Board of Supervisors of the County line 27 of Los Angeles unanimously passed a motion by Supervisors Holly 96 — 2 — SB 1245
line 1 J. Mitchell and Sheila Kuehl to ensure women’s access to quality line 2 reproductive health care services. Specifically, the board instructed line 3 specified county departments, in coordination with reproducti ve line 4 health advocates, to report back with recommendations on actions line 5 that should be taken to enable the county and its partners to provide line 6 the full array of sexual and reproductive health services, including line 7 abortion, to all county residents who need them, and to ensure that line 8 the county continues to lead in its commitment of protecting line 9 reproductive rights for all who come to the county for these line 10 services.
line 11 SEC. 2. Article 7 (commencing with Section 123641) is added line 12 to Chapter 2 of P art 2 of Di vision 106 of the Health and Safety line 13 Code, to read:
line 14
line 15 Article 7. Los Angeles County Abortion Access Safe Haven line 16 Pilot Program
line 17
line 18 123641. (a) Subject to appropriation by the Le gislature, the line 19 Los Angeles County Abortion Access Safe Haven Pilot Program line 20 is hereby established for the purpose of expanding and improving line 21 access to the full spectrum of sexual and reproductive health care, line 22 including abortion, in the County of Los Angeles. line 23 (b) Funds allocated to the County of Los Angeles for the Los line 24 Angeles County Abortion Access Safe Haven Pilot Program shall line 25 be used to administer a pilot project to support inno vative line 26 approaches and patient-centered collaborations to safeguard expand line 27 and impr ove access to se xual and r eproductive health car e, line 28 including safeguarding patient access to abortions, re gardless of line 29 residency. Funds may be used for the purpose of implementing line 30 recommendations from the County of Los Angeles, Angeles line 31 pertaining to sexual and reproductive health care, including, but line 32 not limited to, any of the following, as designated by the county:
line 33 (1) Providing medically accurate education and training tools line 34 to the community.
line 35 (2) Providing training to health care w orkers and abortion line 36 providers.
line 37 (3) Building secure infrastructure.
line 38 (4) Countering misinformation campaigns and pro viding line 39 medically accurate information to health care pro viders and line 40 patients.
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line 1 (5) Coordinating care and patient support services. line 2 (6) Advancing and improving access to abortion. line 3 (c) The County of Los Angeles shall use funds allocated under line 4 this section to maintain a system of financial r eporting on all line 5 aspects of the fund. The financial r eporting shall include line 6 information on e xpenditures and activities using the funds line 7 associated with this section to ensur e the use of the funds ar e line 8 consistent with the purposes of this section.
line 9 (d) The County of Los Angeles shall provide an annual report line 10 to the Le gislature summarizing the pr ojects and collabor ations line 11 funded under this section. The report shall also include data on line 12 the balances of funds available under this division for expenditures line 13 in that fiscal year and future fiscal years. The first annual report line 14 shall be submitted on or before January 1, 2025, and shall cover line 15 the period of J uly 1, 2023, to J uly 1, 2024, inclusive . Eac h line 16 subsequent annual report shall be submitted on or before January line 17 1, and shall co ver the pr evious fiscal year. The report shall be line 18 submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Go vernment line 19 Code.
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