Health Care and Essential Workers: personal protective equipment.

Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health to implement various programs throughout the state relating to public health, including licensing and regulating health facilities and control of infectious diseases. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health and the Office of Emergency Services, in coordination with other state agencies, to, upon appropriation and as necessary, establish a personal protective equipment (PPE) stockpile. The bill would require the department to establish guidelines for the procurement, management, and distribution of PPE, taking into account, among other things, the amount of each type of PPE that would be required for all health care workers and essential workers in the state during a 90-day pandemic or other health emergency. Existing law requires every employer to furnish and use safety devices and safeguards, and to adopt and use practices that are reasonably adequate to render the employment and place of employment safe and healthful. The bill would, commencing January 1, 2023, or one year after the adoption of specified regulations, whichever is later, require health care employers, including clinics, health facilities, and home health agencies, to maintain an inventory of new, unexpired PPE for use in the event of a declared state of emergency and would require the inventory to be at least sufficient for 45 days of surge consumption, as determined by regulation, as specified. The bill would assess a civil penalty on a health care employer who violates that requirement, as specified. The bill would authorize the Department of Industrial Relations to exempt a health care employer from the above-required civil penalties if the department determines that supply chain limitations make meeting the mandated level of supplies for a specific type of PPE infeasible and the health care employer has made a reasonable attempt to obtain PPE, or if the health care employer has made a showing that they are not in possession of the mandated level of supplies due to reasons beyond their control, as specified. The bill would require the Department of Industrial Relations to adopt regulations, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health, setting forth requirements for determining 45-day surge capacity levels, as specified, for a health care employer's PPE inventory. The bill would also establish the Personal Protective Equipment Advisory Committee, consisting of representatives from an association representing skilled nursing facilities, a statewide association representing physicians, and labor organizations that represent health care workers, among other groups, to make recommendations for the development of guidelines for the procurement, management, and distribution of PPE, as specified.