California Dialysis Clinic Requirements and Notice to Close Initiative (2020)
| California Dialysis Clinic Requirements and Notice to Close Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic Healthcare | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
The California Dialysis Clinic Requirements and Notice to Close Initiative (#19-0030) was not on the ballot in California as an initiated state statute on November 3, 2020.
The ballot measure would have required chronic dialysis clinics to:[1]
- have a medical director, who is a licensed physician, to be responsible for the delivery of patient care and outcomes;
- report data on dialysis-related infections to the state health department; and
- provide a written notice to the state health department before closing a chronic dialysis clinic.
The ballot measure would have also stated that a chronic dialysis clinic must deliver the same quality and standard of dialysis treatment "with no discrimination inn such treatment standards on the basis that a payer is an individual patient, private entity, insurer, Medi-Cal, Medicaid, or Medicare."[1]
The ballot measure contained language designed to render void other measures on the state ballot that relate to the regulation of chronic dialysis clinics or the treatment and care of dialysis patients if this measure received a greater number of votes.[1]
Text of measure
Ballot title
The official ballot title was as follows:[2]
| “ |
Authorizes State Regulation of Kidney Dialysis Clinics. Initiative Statute.[3] |
” |
Petition summary
The summary provided for inclusion on signature petition sheets was as follows:[2]
| “ |
Requires kidney dialysis clinics to report dialysis-related infection data to state and federal governments; requires Department of Public Health to conform state reporting, form, and schedule requirements to existing requirements under federal law. Requires written notice to State and patients at least 60 days before a clinic’s permanent closure. Prohibits clinics from discriminating against patients based on the source of payment for care. Replicates existing federal law requiring clinics to have a medical director who is a licensed physician.[3] |
” |
Fiscal impact
The fiscal impact statement was as follows:[2]
| “ |
It is the opinion of the Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance that the measure would have no significant fiscal effect on state and local governments.[3] |
” |
Full text
The full text of the ballot measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
Process in California
In California, the number of signatures required for an initiated state statute is equal to 5 percent of the votes cast in the preceding gubernatorial election. Petitions are allowed to circulate for 180 days from the date the attorney general prepares the petition language. Signatures need to be certified at least 131 days before the general election. As the verification process can take multiple months, the secretary of state provides suggested deadlines for ballot initiatives.
The requirements to get initiated state statutes certified for the 2020 ballot:
- Signatures: 623,212 valid signatures were required.
- Deadline: The deadline for signature verification was June 25, 2020. However, the process of verifying signatures can take multiple months. The recommended deadlines were March 3, 2020, for an initiative requiring a full check of signatures and April 21, 2020, for an initiative requiring a random sample of signatures.
Signatures are first filed with local election officials, who determine the total number of signatures submitted. If the total number is equal to at least 100 percent of the required signatures, then local election officials perform a random check of signatures submitted in their counties. If the random sample estimates that more than 110 percent of the required number of signatures are valid, the initiative is eligible for the ballot. If the random sample estimates that between 95 and 110 percent of the required number of signatures are valid, a full check of signatures is done to determine the total number of valid signatures. If less than 95 percent are estimated to be valid, the initiative does not make the ballot.
Stages of this initiative
On November 14, 2019, elections lawyer Thomas W. Hiltachk filed the ballot initiative.[1] Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) released ballot language for the initiative on January 21, 2020, which allowed proponents to begin collecting signatures. The deadline to file signatures was July 20, 2020.
During DaVita's fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Javier Rodriguez said the firm would not pursue the ballot initiative. He said, "Very early on you have to explore all our options. There were some filing restrictions, etc. We were exploring options, making sure that we had everything at our disposal. After evaluating it, we did not think that was something we should pursue. It’s not in the best interest of our strategy and it’s cleaner to go straight at it as opposed to doing a counter measure."[4]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 California Attorney General, "Initiative 19-0030," November 14, 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 California Secretary of State, "Initiatives and Referenda Cleared for Circulation," accessed January 10, 2020
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Denver Business Journal, "DaVita shares how federal and state policies are already shaping its 2020," February 11, 2020
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