AB 269: Public health: COVID-19 testing and dispensing sites.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes the Governor to declare a state of emergency during conditions of disaster or extreme peril to persons or property, including epidemics. Pursuant to this authority, on March 4, 2020, the Governor declared a state of emergency relating to the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and ordered, among other things, that the certification and licensure requirements as specified in statute and regulation be suspended to all persons who meet the requirements under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) for high complexity testing and who are performing analysis of samples to test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in any certified public health laboratory or licensed clinical laboratory, and that the California Health and Human Services Agency is required to identify and make available medical facilities and other facilities that are suitable for use as medical facilities as necessary for treating individuals who test positive for COVID-19.

This bill would authorize a person to perform an analysis of samples to test for SARS-CoV-2 in a clinical laboratory or a city, county, or city and county public health laboratory if they meet the requirements under CLIA for high complexity testing. The bill would, until January 1, 2024, authorize an entity contracted with and approved by the State Department of Public Health to operate a designated COVID-19 testing and dispensing site to acquire, dispense, and store COVID-19 oral therapeutics, as defined, at or from a designated site.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.