Assembly Health Committee Records, 1945-2000

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Summary

Title:
California State Assembly Health Committee Records
Dates:
1945-2000
Creators:
Assembly Health Committee Assembly Public Health Committee Assembly Health and Welfare Committee Assembly Health Personnel Subcommittee Assembly Medi-Cal Reform Subcommittee Assembly Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Subcommittee Assembly Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Subcommittee
Abstract:
The records of the Assembly Health Committee and its predecessors, the Assembly Public Health Committee and Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, consist of 2,745 file folders of textual materials, 107 audiocassettes, 36 dictabelts, 13 mini-cassettes, 4 volumes, 3 diskettes, and 1 videocassette dating from 1945 to 2000. The Assembly Health Committee is the most recent Assembly committee to oversee bills relating to public health, alcohol and drug abuse, mental health, health insurance, Medi-Cal reform, elderly care, state hospitals, medical licensing, and related health topics. The records are organized into six series: Bill Files (1954-2000), Hearing Files (1945-1995), Subject Files (1954-1996), Reports (1974-1998), Subcommittee Working Papers (1955-1963), and Agricultural Chemicals and Pesticide Residue in Food Products Subject Files (1958-1965). This collection also includes the records of the Health Personnel Subcommittee, Medi-Cal Reform Subcommittee, and Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Subcommittee.
Extent:
2,745 file folders of textual materials, 107 audiocassettes, 36 dictabelts, 13 mini-cassettes, 4 volumes, 3 diskettes, and 1 videocassette
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Assembly Health Committee Records, LP[number]:[folder number], California State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State, Sacramento, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The records of the Assembly Health Committee and its predecessors, the Assembly Public Health Committee and Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, consist of 2,745 file folders of textual materials, 107 audiocassettes, 36 dictabelts, 13 mini-cassettes, 4 volumes, 3 diskettes, and 1 videocassette dating from 1945 to 2000. The records are organized into six series: Bill Files (1954-2000), Hearing Files (1945-1995), Subject Files (1953-1996), Reports (1974-1998), Subcommittee Working Papers (1955-1963), and Agricultural Chemicals and Pesticide Residue in Food Products Subject Files (1958-1965). This collection also includes the records of the Health Personnel Subcommittee, Medi-Cal Reform Subcommittee, and Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Subcommittee.

Bill Files make up the bulk of the collection at 1,452 file folders and 3 diskettes. They document the bills directed to the committee and include bill analyses, amendments and resolutions, author's statements, testimony, press releases, editorials and newspaper clippings, correspondence, committee statements, and comments from affected agencies. These files show the close involvement of the committee in such issues as mental health, disabilities, nursing, Medi-Cal, medical licensing, hospital staffing, health personnel training, environmental health hazards, hospital cost controls, and the elderly. Of particular note are files on landmark mental health legislation, such as the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act (SB677, Chapter 1667, 1967), Bronzan-Mojonnier Act (also known as the California Mental Health Services Reform Act, AB2541, Chapter 1286, 1985), and the Bronzan-McCorquodale Act (AB1288, Chapter 89, 1991). Files on the major 1982 Medi-Cal reforms (AB799, Chapter 328 and SB2012, Chapter 1594) are also represented.

Hearing Files include 325 file folders, 72 audiocassettes, 36 dictabelts, 13 mini-cassettes, and 4 volumes of agendas, audiotapes, videotapes, transcripts, testimony, background information, and working files for regular session hearings, interim hearings, and some joint hearings. The hearings address subjects such as air pollution, restaurant sanitation, effects of radioactivity in the environment, regulation of illicit drugs, alcoholism, fire safety, alternative cancer treatments, Medi-Cal, mental health services, rural health care, genetic engineering, hospital staffing, pesticide residues in food products, AIDS, and care of the elderly. This series offers a valuable timeline for tracking trends in public health over the last half of the 20th century, as certain topics (such as pesticide concerns, radioactivity, abortion, community mental health centers, and AIDS) came to prominence and then fell out of focus over time.

Subject Files are comprised of 446 file folders of textual materials that the committee gathered or produced while conducting research on issues related to abortion, budgets, various medical boards, postsecondary medical education, cancer, dental health, drug abuse, care of the elderly, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), licensure, Medi-Cal, nursing, prepaid health plans, and mental health. They may include correspondence, reports, publications, memoranda, news clippings, and committee notes.

Reports include 39 file folders of publications by government agencies and organizations as well as independent consultants and researchers that contain analyses, proposals, studies, and statistical records on a variety of public health topics.

Subcommittee Working Papers include 14 file folders of correspondence, meeting notes, reports, background material, analyses, and other supporting documentation assembled in the course of the Assembly Public Health Committee's work with its various subcommittees. Of particular note are files on tours of various state mental hospitals located throughout the country, conducted by the Drugs for the Mentally Ill Subcommittee in 1956.

Agricultural Chemicals and Pesticide Residue in Food Products Subject Files include 23 file folders of reports, correspondence, memoranda, background material, news clippings, and committee notes created by the Assembly Public Health Committee on topics related to the human health impacts of agricultural pesticide use. Notable topics include Silent Spring, DDT, and food additives.

The records of the Health Personnel Subcommittee include 115 file folders and 19 audiocassettes of Bill Files (1975-1984), Hearing Files (1975-1990), and Subject Files (1970-1985). The files in these series reflect the subcommittee's legislative work on topics such as medical licensing, continuing education, advertising by health care practitioners, medical education programs, health facility staffing levels, personnel planning, and professional standards.

The records of the Medi-Cal Reform Subcommittee include 62 file folders and 5 audiocassettes of Bill Files (1981-1982), Hearing Files (1979-1981), Subject Files (1974-1981), Press Releases (1980-1981), and Provider Complaint Files (1980-1982). The Bill Files, Hearing Files, Subject Files, and Press Releases reflect the subcommittee's extensive efforts to reform the Medi-Cal system through legislation. The Provider Complaint Files include correspondence and complaint forms from health care providers in California regarding difficulties they encountered with the Medi-Cal system, such as payment issues, claims processing times, denied claims, incorrect billing codes, and poor service from the fiscal intermediary used to administer Medi-Cal.

The records of the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Subcommittee include 269 file folders, 11 audiocassettes, and 1 U-matic videocassette of Bill Files (1975-1982), Hearing Files (1975-1990), Subject Files (1966-1982), Developmental Disabilities Files (1973-1985), Mental Health Files (1977-1985), HR106 Working Papers (1976-1979), Meeting Files (1979-1980), and Members Correspondence (1977-1980). The files in these series focus on topics such as community mental health centers, involuntary commitment, state hospitals, eating disorders, sterilization, drug abuse, revisions to the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, psychiatric drugs, and electroconvulsive therapy. The HR106 Working Papers include documentation on the implementation of House Resolution 106 (1976), which called for a comprehensive study of California's mental health system. The Meeting Files and Members Correspondence were collected in the course of the subcommittee's administrative work on mental health legislation and include agendas, meeting notes, background information, and correspondence.

Researchers should note that the records contain extensive topical overlap. When seeking information about a specific subject, checking for relevance in all series of the standing committee as well as those of various subcommittees is recommended.

Biographical / historical:

The Assembly Health Committee is the most recent Assembly committee to oversee bills relating to public health, alcohol and drug abuse, mental health, health insurance, Medi-Cal reform, elderly care, state hospitals, medical licensing, and related health topics.

The first Assembly committee to have public health-related bills under its purview was the Assembly Public Health and Quarantine Committee, created on January 15, 1895 (1895 Assembly Journal, page 42) and lasting through 1942. It was succeeded by the Assembly Public Health Committee, established by House Resolution 15 on January 4, 1943 (1943-1944 Assembly Journal, page 32), although the scope of the committee did not change. With the passage of House Resolution 21 on January 13, 1969 (1969 Assembly Journal, page 114) the committee once again changed names, to the Assembly Health and Welfare Committee. However, this iteration of the committee was short-lived, and on January 14, 1971 the Assembly passed House Resolution 13 (1971 Assembly Journal, page 166), changing the name to Assembly Health Committee.

The predecessors, Assembly Public Health and Assembly Health and Welfare Committees, oversaw a large number of subcommittees, with each focusing on a specific area of public health such as alcohol and drug addiction, air pollution, mental health, state hospitals, or radiation concerns, among others. The records of these subcommittees were intermingled with those of the standing committee.

From 1975 to 1992 the Assembly Health Committee had a number of permanent subcommittees. The most significant of these include the Health Personnel Subcommittee and the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Subcommittee. They each began their work in the 1975-1976 legislative session and were chaired by members of the standing committee. The Health Personnel Subcommittee oversaw legislation related to staffing of state hospitals, medical licensing, advertising by health care practitioners, medical education programs, and professional standards. It disbanded after the 1991-1992 legislative session, when the Assembly Health committee dissolved all permanent subcommittees.

The Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Subcommittee focused on community mental health centers, involuntary commitment, eating disorders, drug abuse, revisions to the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, and the use of narcotics on the mentally ill. Much of its work overlapped with various select and special committees of the Assembly and Senate that also focused on mental health issues. It was briefly renamed to the Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Subcommittee before being dissolved after the 1989-1990 legislative session.

The Medi-Cal Reform Subcommittee, although short-lived, also played a significant role in suggesting legislation to the standing committee. It was temporarily established as a select committee in the 1979-1980 legislative session before being converted into a subcommittee in the 1981-1982 session. Its purpose was to examine the existing structure of the Medi-Cal program and make legislative recommendations on possible reforms. The committee researched and reported on the extensive issues experienced by medical providers in their interactions with Medi-Cal and made suggestions to the Assembly Health Committee to improve claims processing and payment to providers.

The Assembly Health Subcommittee has also had a number of special, select, and joint committees since 1971. The records of these various committees can be found in separate collections under the name of each special, select, or joint committee.

For a complete list of standing committee chairs, please see Appendix A.

Acquisition information:
The State Archives received these records in accordance with California Government Code 9080(b) which requires legislative committees to transfer their records to the State Archives when they are no longer needed by the committee.
Accruals:

Further accruals are expected.

Physical location:
California State Archives
Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Processed by Andrew Hyslop and Michelle Howard
Date Prepared:
© 2025
Date Encoded:
Machine-readable finding aid created by Michelle Howard. Machine-readable finding aid derived from MS Word. Date of source: August 1, 2025.

Access and use

Restrictions:

While the majority of the records are open for research, any access restrictions are noted in the record series descriptions.

Terms of access:

For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the California State Archives. Permission for reproduction or publication is given on behalf of the California State Archives as the owner of the physical items. The researcher assumes all responsibility for possible infringement which may arise from reproduction or publication of materials from the California State Archives collections.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Assembly Health Committee Records, LP[number]:[folder number], California State Archives, Office of the Secretary of State, Sacramento, California.

Location of this collection:
1020 "O" Street
Sacramento, CA 95814, US
Contact:
(916) 653-2246
reference@sos.ca.gov
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