Gov. Brown signs women's health bills

Gov. Jerry Brown signed a litany of bills this weekend, including measures that will increase gas pipeline safety, allow nurses to prescribe birth control pills, require physicians to inform women if they have highly dense breast tissue and curb underage drinking on party buses.

He also vetoed a bill by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, that would have suspended eastbound carpool lanes on portions of Interstate 80, a proposal attacked by critics as a self-serving change to help speed up Ma's commute to Sacramento. The governor wrote in a veto message that the bill "goes in the wrong direction," because "encouraging carpooling is important to reduce pollution and make more efficient use of our highways."

Brown was praised by women's health organizations for his approval of AB2348 by Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell, D-Los Angeles. The bill creates standard procedures so that nurse- midwives, nurse practitioners and physician assistants may prescribe and dispense birth control pills, and is expected to improve access to contraceptives in rural areas of California where it is more difficult to get to a doctor. 

"At a time when some seek to turn back the clock and restrict women's health choices, California is expanding access to birth control and reaffirming every woman's basic constitutional rights," Brown said in a statement.

The governor also won the praise of health groups for signing SB1538, which will help the approximately 40 percent of women with dense breast tissue receive more robust cancer screenings. Brown vetoed a similar bill last year, which also required hospitals to tell these women they have dense breast tissue, which makes it harder to evaluate the results of a mammography, but that other screening options are available. Author Joe Simitian, a Democratic senator from Palo Alto, worked with the governor to address his concerns with how those notifications are phrased, and reintroduced the bipartisan measure this year with more support from medical groups. 

Brown also signed two bills by Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, which are aimed at strengthening natural-gas pipeline safety laws and grew out of the deadly Pacific Gas and Electric Co. pipeline explosion in San Bruno two years ago. 

AB1456 would require California regulators to adopt safety standards for natural-gas pipelines and allow the state to fine utilities that fail to meet those benchmarks, implementing recommendations made by an independent review panel appointed by the state Public Utilities Commission. And AB578 requires the PUC to formally respond to safety recommendations made by federal agencies. 

Hill's AB45, which would make bus companies, drivers and chaperones responsible for underage drinking on party buses, was also signed by the governor. And Brown approved AB1569, extending Laura's Law until 2017. The law lets courts force people with mental illness and a history of violence into treatment.

All of the laws will take effect Jan. 1.a