"Californians need to know that we are taking the threat of avian influenza and other potential dangers to public health seriously. We must establish and maintain the right action plan to protect our families," said Assemblymember De La Torre.

Specifically, AB 2584 requires any state or local agencies conducting preparedness simulations for an infectious disease outbreak to identify deficiencies in their plans and to track the implementation of any needed corrective actions. Under the bill, the affected state and local entities would do the following:

• Establish written procedures for following up on recommendations identified in after-action reports.
  
  
• Prepare after-action reports within 90 days of an exercise.
  

"We need to take commonsense steps to ensure that our preparedness action plans address all potential scenarios," continued De La Torre. "Fixing problems experienced during simulations should be a standard operating procedure for all public health emergency plans."

A recent report by the Bureau of State Audits found that many government emergency plans and other policies did not include specific procedures for following up on recommendations identified in after-action reports.

As Chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, De La Torre has held hearings on the state's preparedness for the potential arrival of the avian influenza virus, H5N1. The virus has killed 91 out of approximately 169 people in Asia and Turkey since 2003, a mortality rate of over 50 percent. The virus has spread in bird populations throughout Asia, Eastern Europe and parts of Africa, but has not mutated into human-to-human transmission as of yet.