Existing law establishes an Office of Health Equity in the State Department of Public Health for purposes of aligning state resources, decisionmaking, and programs to accomplish certain goals related to health equity and protecting vulnerable communities. Existing law requires the office to develop department-wide plans to close the gaps in health status and access to care among the state's diverse racial and ethnic communities, women, persons with disabilities, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning communities, as specified.
This bill would establish the Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund, under the administration of the office, for grants to transgender-led (Trans-led) organizations and hospitals, health care clinics, and other medical providers that provide gender-conforming health care services and have an established partnership with a Trans-led organization, to create, or fund existing, programs focused on coordinating trans-inclusive health care, as defined, for people that identify as transgender, gender nonconforming, or intersex.
The bill would appropriate $15,000,000 from the General Fund to the Transgender Wellness and Equity Fund, established pursuant to this bill, for these purposes.