(a) The State Department of Health Care Services shall work with the KI working group, which is coordinated by the Office of Emergency Services, to establish and implement a program to oversee the distribution of potassium iodide (KI) tablets to all persons who reside, work, visit, or attend school within the state-designated emergency planning zone of an operational nuclear powerplant, in order to provide protection to members of the public in the event of an accident causing leakage of radioactive iodine, pursuant to the offer of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to provide the state with a supply of KI tablets.
(b) In order to implement the program required by subdivision (a), the department, in consultation with local health departments and local emergency management agencies, shall develop and implement a plan for both of the following:
(1) The prompt distribution of the tablets to persons at risk in the event of a nuclear emergency, in a manner to best protect the public health.
(2) The dissemination of instructions on the use of the tablets, including the possible need for medical consultation, if indicated.
(c) The department shall work with the KI working group described in subdivision (a) to develop and implement a plan and method for the efficient storage of KI tablets.
(d) The department, in consultation with the KI working group, shall evaluate areas in the state, other than those described in subdivision (a), in which leakage of radioactive iodine is possible, and evaluate the need to store quantities of KI tablets in those areas.
(e) No later than July 1, 2004, the department shall submit a plan to the Governor and the Legislature on the establishment and implementation of the program required pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b), and on the development and implementation of the plan and method required in subdivision (c). No later than July 1, 2004, the department shall also submit to the Governor and the Legislature the evaluation required in subdivision (d).
(Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 352, Sec. 394. (AB 1317) Effective September 26, 2013. Operative July 1, 2013, by Sec. 543 of Ch. 352.)