Nursing.

(1) Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of the practice of nursing by the Board of Registered Nursing. Existing law requires the board to appoint an executive officer to perform duties delegated by the board. Under existing law, the repeal of the provision establishing the board renders the board subject to review by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature. The act, on January 1, 2022, repeals the provisions establishing the board and the executive officer position. This bill would revise and recast those provisions and would extend the repeal dates of the board and the executive officer position to January 1, 2023. (2) Existing law provides that a person, regardless of citizenship or immigration status, is eligible to hold an appointed civil office if the person is 18 years of age and a resident of the state. The act requires a member of the board to be a citizen of the United States and a resident of the state. This bill would provide that a member of the board is required to be a resident of the state. (3) Existing law provides that the act does not prohibit various services that may otherwise constitute nursing under specified circumstances, including the incidental care of the sick by domestic servants and nursing services in an emergency, and defines emergency to include an epidemic or public disaster. This bill would refer to domestic workers instead of domestic servants, specify that emergency also includes a pandemic, and make other nonsubstantive changes. (4) Existing law authorizes the board, upon approval of an application and payment of a prescribed fee, to issue temporary licenses or certificates to practice professional nursing, or as a certified public health nurse, certified clinical nurse specialist, certified nurse-midwife, certified nurse anesthetist, or certified nurse practitioner, for a period of 6 months from the date of issuance, as specified. This bill would require the board to prominently display on the front page of its website the availability of temporary licenses and certificates pursuant to this authority. (5) Existing law, until the end of the 2020–21 academic year, and whenever the Governor declares a state of emergency for a county, as provided, requires a board nursing education consultant to approve a request from an approved nursing program to revise certain clinical experience requirements, provided the request meets specified conditions. This bill would extend the application of the above-described provisions to the 2021–22 academic year. The bill would also correct an erroneous cross-reference in those provisions.