By Meena Kaypour

On June 26, 2020, the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) published notice of its intent to amend Article 1, section 1000 of its Conflict-of-Interest Code pursuant to its obligations under the Political Reform Act, Government Code Section 81000, et seq.  Specifically, section 87302 of the Government Code requires DMHC to periodically update its Conflict-of-Interest Code to identify specific employee positions at the Department that are involved in the making, or participation in the making, of decisions that may foreseeably have a material effect on any financial interest.  DMHC’s proposed amendment updates the list of positions, specifies that the Director of DMHC will file his or her statement of economic interest electronically with the Fair Political Practices Commission, while all other individuals identified will file their statements with the Office of Legal Services at the Department and will be made available for public inspection upon request.  Finally, the Department proposes to make technical changes to reflect the current organizational structure of DMHC and to remove obsolete classifications.

On September 11, 2020, DMHC released a Notice of 2nd Comment Period of 15 Days for Amendments to the Conflict-of-Interest Code. According to its Notice of 2nd Comment Period, the DMHC proposes to add “Research Data Supervisor in the DMHC Help Center” to the list of employees who are involved in the making, or participation in the making, of decisions that may foreseeably have a material effect on any financial interest.

The deadline to submit written statements, arguments, or comments relating to the proposed amendment was September 26, 2020. At this writing, no further action has been taken.