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Davis Signs Drug Labeling Bill, Other Senior-Oriented Legislation

By Daniel Dullum
Spectrum staff

Gov. Gray Davis has signed 10 bills endorsed by seniors’ groups, including a measure requiring pharmacists to put descriptive labels on pill containers.

“Of all the obligations we Californians owe to one another, our duty to our parents and our grandparents is among the most sacred,” Davis said in a written statement. “I have never forgotten that.”

The pharmacy bill, SB 292 by Sen. Jackie Speier, D-San Francisco, requires prescription labels to include a description of the drug, including its color, shape and any marks that appear on the pills or capsules. The author said the change would be especially helpful for seniors who take several drugs -- those considered most at-risk for medication mix-ups.

“When it comes to prescription drugs, a few words may mean the difference between a rapid recovery and a rapid ride to the emergency room,” Speier said.

The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2006. New drugs are exempt from the labeling requirement for their first 120 days on the market, and an exemption also covers medications for which no physical description exists in any commercial database.

Speier’s bill was supported by the Congress of California Seniors and Gray Panthers, and was opposed by the California Pharmacists Association, which said in letters to lawmakers that regulations enacted last year to reduce dispensing errors should be given more time to work before new mandates are put on pharmacists.

The governor also signed AB 1131, by Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, which adds identify theft, forgery and fraud to the list of financial crimes which can be prosecuted as elder abuse. Previously, theft and embezzlement were the only financial crimes included in the statutes which allow prosecutors to seek stiffer penalties for those who target seniors.

“The crime of identity theft is on the rise and our seniors are a particularly vulnerable population,” Jackson said. “Under this measure, those who prey on elders and dependent adults will be punished as perpetrators of elder financial abuse.”

Jackson’s measure was sponsored by the Ventura County district attorney and endorsed by California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform and Gray Panthers.

Davis also signed:

• AB 1290, by Jackson, which prohibits a person from owning, purchasing or possessing a gun while under a restraining order relating to elder abuse. The measure, which also applies to those under restraining orders for stalking, is similar to an existing law which prohibits firearm possession by those under domestic violence restraining orders.

• SB 226, by Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, which is a companion bill to Jackson’s measure. Cedillo’s bill, supported by Legal Assistance to the Elderly Inc., includes similar provisions prohibiting those under elder abuse restraining orders from having guns, and specifies a procedure for them to relinquish their weapons.

• AB 634, by Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, which creates a statewide policy against confidential settlements of civil suits involving elder abuse, and establishes penalties for destructing evidence in an attempt to avoid a civil suit for violations of the state’s elder abuse laws.

• SB 413, by Speier, which allows a fee increase on health care service plans equaling 20 cents per person covered by the plans, with the money — an estimated $1 million per year — funding the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program. Speier said the state Department of Aging has lost part of its federal funding for HICAP, and this tax increase on health plans will maintain the program at its current level. The bill was supported by AARP, the Older Women’s League of California and other seniors’ groups and was opposed by the California Chamber of Commerce, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the Davis administration’s Department of Finance.

• SB 618, by Sen. Jack Scott, D-Altadena, which increases the fine for misrepresenting the terms of an insurance policy from $200 to $1,500, and authorizes the state insurance commissioner to revoke an insurance agent’s license for unscrupulous behavior. Scott said the changes are meant to protect seniors from being pushed to include their insurance agents in their wills or to name agents as beneficiaries in life insurance policies.

• SB 620, by Scott, which creates several restrictions on marketing and selling life insurance and annuities to seniors. It prohibits advertisements for events where insurance products will be offered from using terms like “seminar” or “informational meeting” unless the words “and insurance sales presentation” are included.

• AB 104, by Assemblyman Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, which requires all homeowner associations, including those in senior communities, to allow members to inspect and copy accounting books, records and minutes of proceedings.

• AB 1059, by Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, which subjects a landlord to a civil penalty of up to $2,000 if he or she illegally attempts to force a tenant to vacate a rental unit. The Western Center on Law and Poverty said that even with the existing penalty of $1,000 in punitive damages for such conduct, the center “still hears stories of retaliatory conduct aimed at tenants.”

“Frequently, this behavior is directed against the most vulnerable populations, who are the least equipped to resist this treatment,” Western Center said. “Economic conditions often force seniors, individuals with disabilities and single parents to rent in substandard buildings. When they try to get these buildings repaired, they often face intimidation and threats of eviction.”