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Commission adopts DPH 2018 legislative platform; committee reports highlight jail-health improvements
Summary
The commission adopted DPH’s 2018 state and federal legislative platform, which adds priorities on housing, behavioral health and emergency services; committee updates noted jail-health improvements such as naloxone use and HIV linkage-to-care.
Cindy Hemmerbird, manager of policy and planning, presented the Department of Public Health’s draft 2018 state and federal legislative platform and the commission moved to adopt the resolution to transmit the platform for mayoral and legislative review.
Hemmerbird recapped 2017: the department tracked hundreds of bills, took active positions on 14 city items (9 signed into law, 4 stalled, 1 vetoed), and supported notable laws including HIV decriminalization and paid family leave. At the federal level, the presentation summarized the repeal-and-replace activity around the Affordable Care Act and noted there had been recent progress on a short-term stabilization package under negotiation in the Senate.
The proposed 2018 platform adds or strengthens language on affordable housing and supportive housing funding coordination, adolescent behavioral health funding, a state carve-out and Medi‑Cal reimbursement for inpatient psychiatric services, expansion of medication‑assisted treatment and harm reduction inside jails, climate-change adaptation with an equity focus, and protective language on ACA/Medi‑Cal stability. The platform also includes an emergency medical services section supporting alternate transport destinations such as sobering centers.
Commissioners suggested additional federal contraception policy language, research funding language for NIH, attention to 42 CFR confidentiality rules for substance-use records, and continued attention to safe-injection and IMD (institution for mental disease) exclusion issues. Hemmerbird said the platform will be reviewed by the mayor’s office and submitted to the appropriate city legislative committee.
Separately, Commissioner Payton reported on a Community & Public Health Committee briefing by Dr. Lisa Pratt on Jail Health Services: the division manages roughly 12,000 unique patients per year, has standardized naloxone use, links released HIV patients to primary care at a reported ~95% rate, and administered 500 hepatitis A vaccinations in one month as the jail prepares for influenza season.
Next steps: the commission adopted the resolution; the platform will go to the mayor’s office and then to the city’s legislative review process. DPH will incorporate commissioner suggestions as appropriate.
