The Asthma Bill, S.B. 1111

Senate Bill 1111, sponsored by the American Lung Association of California, would establish a statewide presence to address asthma as a public health problem. The bill is co-authored by 34 legislators and supported by more than 30 organizations, including the California Medical Association, California School Nurses Organization, Children's Advocacy Institute, and the Public Health Institute.

Despite the fact that asthma appears to be increasing and afflicts over 2.3 million people in California, there is no coordinated, statewide asthma prevention and control program. In addition, asthma is a treatable disease and many hospitalizations can be prevented. Senate Bill 1111 would create a comprehensive program under the California Department of Health Services to address asthma as a major public health issue. This would be accomplished through assessment of population and workplace data, treatment patterns and patient utilization, and through the funding of community-based public health interventions.

Background

Current efforts to address asthma are insufficient because the Department of Health Services does not provide ongoing statewide support, assessment, intervention and evaluation for this growing public health problem. There currently is no funding designated specifically for asthma prevention and control. SB 1111 was reintroduced in response to Governor Wilson's veto message of SB 2208 in which he concluded that the magnitude of the asthma problem warranted a comprehensive and coordinated public health response and stated that the Department shall develop an asthma assessment, intervention and evaluation program.

Key Points

• Prevalence of asthma has increased 75% in California between 1984 and 1998.
• An estimated 2.3 million residents of California suffer from asthma, including over half a million children.
• Asthma is one of the most common chronic conditions in children, is a leading cause of school absences, and is one of the leading causes of hospital admissions for children in California.
• Asthma deaths among young people more than doubled between 1980 and 1993.
• More than 600 people die from asthma every year. The 656 deaths that occurred in 1996 alone were responsible for almost 15,000 years of life lost.
• In 1995 alone, there were more than 42,000 asthma-related hospital stays in California. Hospitalizations for asthma cost more than $350 million each year in California.
• Occupational asthma is the second leading cause of worker limitation, absenteeism and significant cause of lost productivity.

Solutions Through SB 1111

• Gather and distribute the most current information available on asthma to raise awareness about this public health problem and ensure proper prevention and treatment.
• Survey factors known to worsen asthma, assess the burden of asthma on the state's medical and economic resources and identify the communities hardest hit by the disease in order to develop the most effective programs to prevent and treat cases of asthma.
• Issue grants to conduct research to better understand the causes of asthma.
• Develop new and innovative models to prevent and treat asthma for populations which suffer disproportionately such as Asian American, African American and Latino communities.
• Implement local interventions, using current knowledge that teams health care providers, community organizations, local health departments and other private/public partners that can be tailored to fit the needs of targeted communities.
• Help increase worker productivity by reducing incidence of work-related asthma.
• Appropriately treat and reduce cases of pediatric asthma by developing recommendations for pediatric asthma management policies of school districts and child care institutions.
• Develop recommendations for pediatric asthma management policies in school districts and child care institutions to appropriately treat and reduce cases of pediatric asthma.