Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, establishes the Board of Registered Nursing to license and regulate the practice of nursing. Existing law requires the board to establish a Nurse Practitioner Advisory Committee to advise and make recommendations to the board on all matters relating to nurse practitioners, and specifies that the committee shall consist of 4 qualified nurse practitioners, 2 physicians and surgeons, and one public member. This bill would instead specify that the committee shall consist of 5 qualified nurse practitioners, 3 physicians and surgeons, and 2 public members.
Existing law, the Vocational Nursing Practice Act, establishes the Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians of the State of California to license and regulate vocational nurses and psychiatric technicians. Chapter 624 of the Statutes of 2022 (SB 1436) limited the respiratory tasks and services that a licensed vocational nurse may perform to basic respiratory tasks and services that do not require a respiratory assessment and only require manual, technical skills, or data collection, as identified by the Respiratory Care Board of California, as specified. SB 1436 and subsequent legislation have created exemptions for a licensed vocational nurse to perform respiratory tasks and services under specified circumstances that vary depending on the task or service, the nurse's training, demonstrated competency, and employer, and the setting in which the task or service is performed, as provided. SB 1436 became effective on January 1, 2023. This bill, instead, would authorize a licensed vocational nurse to perform respiratory tasks and services consistent with the scope of practice of a licensed vocational nurse, as it existed on December 31, 2022. The bill would make various conforming changes, including removal of the above-described exemptions.
Existing law, the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act, declares the intent of the Legislature to increase the number of students and residents receiving quality education and training in specified primary care specialties and as primary care physician's assistants, primary care nurse practitioners, and registered nurses. This bill would require the Department of Health Care Access and Information to maintain a New Nursing Graduate Support and Placement Program to award program grants to community college associate degree of nursing programs, through which support grants would be awarded to recent graduates for loan repayment assistance, relocation, transportation, housing assistance, childcare, and other financial support. The bill would specify grant eligibility criteria for community colleges and recent graduates. The bill would require the department to consider labor standards of hospital sites that employ support grant applicants when determining grant distribution. Implementation of these provisions would be contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would also express the intent of the Legislature to support and strengthen existing programs that train registered nurses under the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act.
Existing law defines a request regarding resuscitative measures to mean a written document, signed by an individual with capacity or legally recognized health care decisionmaker and the individual's physician that directs a health care provider regarding resuscitative measures, as prescribed. Existing law includes a prehospital "do not resuscitate" form, as developed by the Emergency Medical Services Authority or other substantially similar form, and Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment form (POLST form) , as approved by the Emergency Medical Services Authority as requests regarding resuscitative measures. This bill would replace the term "Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment" with "POLST," or "Portable Orders Listing Scope of Treatment." The bill would authorize a request regarding resuscitative measures to be entered into by an individual with capacity or a health care agent, conservator with health care decisionmaking authority, or surrogate, as defined, and a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant, as specified. The bill would specify that a request regarding resuscitative measures is entirely voluntary and the provision of care or admission to a facility cannot be conditioned on completion of or refusal to complete a POLST or prehospital "do not resuscitate" order. Existing law prescribes requirements for forms for requests regarding resuscitative measures, including, among other things, that the form be signed by the executing parties. The bill would specify that an electronic signature, as defined, is sufficient for any signature required for a request regarding resuscitative measures. Under this bill, a request regarding resuscitative measures executed in another state or jurisdiction that complies with the laws of that state or jurisdiction or the laws of California is considered valid and enforceable in California to the same extent as a request regarding resuscitative measures validly executed in California. The bill would specify that, in the absence of knowledge to the contrary, a physician or other health care provider may presume that a request regarding resuscitative measures, whether executed in another state or jurisdiction or in California, is valid and unrevoked. The bill would make conforming changes.
(1) Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, establishes the Board of Registered Nursing within the Department of Consumer Affairs, until January 1, 2027, and sets forth its powers and duties regarding the licensure and regulation of registered nurses. Existing law creates the Board of Registered Nursing Fund and makes all moneys in the fund available upon appropriation by the Legislature. A violation of the act is a crime. Existing law requires the board, until January 1, 2027, to appoint an executive officer to perform the duties delegated by the board and to be responsible to the board for the accomplishment of those duties, as specified. Existing law requires the board, for the purpose of transacting its business, to meet at least once every 3 months, at times and places it designates by resolution, and requires those meetings to be held in northern and southern California. This bill would extend those dates until January 1, 2031. The bill would remove the above-described location requirements for meetings held by the board, and, instead, require the board to meet at least once every 3 months in locations that are, to the extent practicable, geographically diverse. (2) Existing law specifies that an approved school of nursing, or an approved nursing program, is one that, among other things, gives a course of instruction approved by the board, as specified. Existing law requires the board to prepare and maintain a list of approved schools of nursing whose graduates are eligible to apply for a license to practice nursing, as provided. Existing law requires the board, through its executive officer, to inspect all schools of nursing in the state at the times the board deems necessary, as specified. This bill would require the board to make the list of approved schools of nursing available on its internet website. The bill would require the inspection criteria to be consistent with the 2020 Nursing Education Approval Guidelines established by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, or its successor, as specified. Existing law requires an approved school of nursing or a nursing program to meet a minimum of 500 direct patient care clinical hours in a board-approved clinical setting, as specified, and requires additional clinical hours required by the program for nursing education preparation in each nursing area as specified by the board to be identified and documented in the curriculum plan for each area. The bill would require any clinical practice hours that are not required to be in direct patient care and are provided using simulation experiences to be based on the best practices published by, among other specified entities, the International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning, or based on any equivalent standards approved by the board. Existing law authorizes the director of an approved nursing program, until the end of the 2023–24 academic year, or whenever the Governor declares a state of emergency for a county in which an agency or facility used by an approved nursing program for direct patient care clinical practice is no longer available, to submit to a board nursing education consultant requests to, among other things, allow the program to reduce the required number of direct patient care hours to, among other requirements, 50% in geriatrics and medical-surgical, if certain conditions are met. Existing law prohibits the approval of that request after the 2023–24 academic year and makes an approved request expire at the end of that year. This bill would, instead, authorize a director to submit requests for the approved nursing program to reduce the required number of direct patient care hours to 200 hours in medical-surgical, as specified, if certain conditions are met. The bill would remove the prohibition of the approval of that request after the 2023–24 year and the provision making any an approved request expire at the end of that year. If the board requires the approval of the faculty or directors, as specified, existing law authorizes the board to approve an individual to serve as a member of the faculty, director, or assistant director of an approved school of nursing or nursing program. Existing law makes an individual approval valid for 5 years and authorizes an individual approval to be renewed if the individual demonstrates to the board that they continue to meet the requirements established by the board for faculty, directors, and assistant directors of an approved school of nursing or nursing program. This bill would, instead, make only an individual faculty approval valid for 5 years and authorize only an individual faculty approval to be renewed if the individual demonstrates to the board that they continue to meet the requirements established by the board for faculty of an approved school of nursing or nursing program. If an applicant for approval has a faculty position and does not meet a requirement established by the board for a different position, existing law authorizes the board to accept a remediation plan submitted by an approved school of nursing or nursing program to help the applicant meet the requirement, and if the board accepts the plan, to approve the applicant to instruct in theory under the mentorship and supervision of the content expert identified in the plan for up to one year. If an applicant for approval as an assistant director or director does not have a faculty position and does not meet a requirement established by the board for a different position, the bill would authorize the board to accept a remediation plan submitted by an approved school of nursing or nursing program to help the applicant meet the requirement, and if the board accepts the plan, to approve the applicant to serve in the role of the assistant director under the mentorship of a board-approved director or assistant director while completing the remediation plan for up to one year, as specified. (3) Existing law defines the practice of nursing to include specified activities, including the administration of medications ordered by a physician and surgeon, dentist, podiatrist, or clinical psychologist, as specified. This bill would expand the definition of the practice of nursing to include the administration of medications ordered by a nurse practitioner or certified nurse midwife and the administration of medications as directed by an advanced practice registered nurse to the extent allowable by the advanced practice registered nurse's scope of practice. (4) Existing law requires the board to issue a license as a registered nurse to each applicant who passes the examination and meets all other licensing requirements. Existing law requires all examinations to be written, but authorizes exams in the discretion of the board to be supplemented by an oral or practical examination in subjects the board determines. This bill would remove the requirement that all examinations be written, and the authorization for exams to be supplemented by an oral or practical examination in subjects the board determines. Existing law authorizes a registered nurse under current investigation by the board to request entry into an intervention program by contacting the board. Existing law requires each registered nurse who requests participation in an intervention program to agree to cooperate with the rehabilitation program designed by the intervention evaluation committee and approved by the program manager, as defined. This bill would require the committee, in developing the rehabilitation program, to determine whether a participant is required to practice nursing prior to completion of the program. Existing law requires each person renewing their license as a registered nurse to submit proof satisfactory to the board that, during the preceding 2-year period, they have been informed of the developments in the registered nurse field or in any special area of practice engaged in by the licensee, occurring since the last renewal thereof, either by pursuing a course or courses of continuing education in the registered nurse field or relevant to the practice of the licensee, as specified, or by other means deemed equivalent by the board. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2029, require the board to require each licensee to submit the above-described proof at the time of renewal and require the proof to include, but not be limited to, documentation verifying the completion of the continuing education requirements during the preceding renewal period or the preceding 2 years. Existing law authorizes a registered nurse whose license has been revoked or suspended or who has been placed on probation to petition the board for reinstatement or modification of penalty, as specified, subject to specified time periods. This bill would specify that no minimum time period applies if the registered nurse has had their license revoked by default for failure to submit a notice of defense. (5) Existing law requires the board to issue a certificate to practice nurse-midwifery to a person licensed as a registered nurse who meets specified qualifications. Existing law authorizes a certified nurse-midwife to attend cases of low-risk pregnancy and childbirth and to provide certain types of care, including prenatal care. Existing law generally authorizes a certified nurse-midwife to furnish drugs or devices incidentally to the provision of, among other things, the care and services described above. Existing law makes the furnishing or ordering of drugs or devices by a certified nurse-midwife conditional on the issuance by the board of a number to the applicant who has successfully completed certain requirements. Existing law authorizes the board to issue a furnishing number upon initial application and, if approved by the board, prohibits requiring the applicant from having to make a separate application. Existing law authorizes the board to charge an applicant a fee to cover all necessary costs to implement these provisions that is no more than $1,500 for an initial application or $1,000 for a renewal application, and to charge a penalty fee for failure to renew a furnishing number within the prescribed time that is no more than $500. This bill would authorize the board to also issue a furnishing number described above upon renewal application, and would remove the authorization for the board to charge a penalty fee for failure to renew a furnishing number within the prescribed time. The bill would specify that the initial application and renewal application are those for a certificate to practice nurse-midwifery. (6) Existing law, the Nurse Anesthetists Act, which is part of the Nursing Practice Act, requires the board to issue a certificate to practice nurse anesthesia to a person licensed as a registered nurse who meets specified qualifications. Existing law fixes the amounts of fees in connection with the issuance of certificates of nurse anesthetists, including that the fee to be paid upon the filing of an application for a certificate is fixed by the board at not less than $500 and no more than $1,500. This bill would remove the minimum fee amount for the above-described fees. (7) Existing law requires, on and after January 1, 2008, an applicant for initial qualification or certification as a nurse practitioner who has not been qualified or certified as a nurse practitioner in California or any other state to meet certain requirements, including holding a valid and active registered nursing license. Existing law generally authorizes a nurse practitioner to furnish drugs or devices when certain conditions are met, including that the nurse practitioner is functioning pursuant to standardized procedure, as defined, or protocol, as specified. Existing law makes the furnishing or ordering of drugs or devices by a nurse practitioner conditional on the issuance by the board of a number to an applicant who has successfully completed certain requirements. Existing law authorizes the board to issue a furnishing number upon initial application and, if approved by the board, prohibits requiring the applicant from having to make a separate application. Existing law authorizes the board to charge an applicant a fee to cover all necessary costs to implement these provisions that is no more than $1,500 for an initial application or $1,000 for a renewal application, and to charge a penalty fee for failure to renew a furnishing number within the prescribed time that is no more than $500. This bill would authorize the board to also issue a furnishing number described above upon renewal application, and would remove the authorization for the board to charge a penalty fee for failure to renew a furnishing number within the prescribed time. The bill would specify that the initial application and renewal application are those for the qualification or certification as a nurse practitioner. Existing law authorizes a nurse practitioner to perform certain functions, including conducting an advanced assessment, without standardized procedures in accordance with their education and training, as specified, if the nurse practitioner meets certain requirements, including that they have completed a transition to practice in California of a minimum of 3 full-time equivalent years of practice or 4600 hours, as specified. This bill would also authorize the completion of a transition to practice in another state, as described above, for purposes of that requirement. For purposes of a transition to practice completed in another state, the bill would require the board to, among other things, on or before January 1, 2028, identify states where practice experience would meet or exceed the requirements under specified provisions if obtained in this state. (8) Existing law requires a registered nurse applying to be a clinical nurse specialist for the evaluation of their qualifications to use that title to pay a nonrefundable fee of not less than $500 but not exceeding $1,500, and requires a fee to be paid for a temporary certificate to practice as a clinical nurse special to be not less than $30 but no more than $50. Existing law requires a biennial renewal fee to be paid upon submission of an application to renew the clinical nurse specialist certificate, and to be established by the board at no less than $150 and not more than $1,000. Existing law requires the penalty fee for failure to renew a certificate within the prescribed time to be 50% of the renewal fee in effect on the date of the renewal of the license to be not less than $75 and no more than $500. This bill would delete the minimum fee amounts prescribed above. (9) The bill would also make various nonsubstantive changes to various nursing related provisions.
(1) Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities, clinics, home health agencies, and hospice agencies, as defined, by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law provides for the certification of nurse assistants and home health aides by the department. A violation of these provisions by a licensee is a crime. Existing law authorizes the department to deny an application for, initiate an action to suspend or revoke a certificate for, or deny a training and examination application for a nurse assistant or home health aide under specified circumstances. Existing law requires, with some exceptions, the department to deny a training and examination application and deny, suspend, or revoke a certificate if the applicant or certificate holder has been convicted of a violation of or attempted violation of one or more specified crimes. This bill would instead authorize the department to deny an application for, a certificate for, or a training and examination application for, a nurse assistant or home health aide for various reasons, including if an applicant has been convicted of a crime, as specified, within the preceding 7 years from the date of the application that is directly and adversely related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a certified nurse assistant or home health aide, regardless of whether the applicant was incarcerated for that crime, as specified, and if the applicant has been subjected to formal discipline by the department or a licensing board in or outside California within the preceding 7 years from the date of the application for professional misconduct that would have been cause for discipline, as specified, and that is directly and adversely related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a certified nurse assistant or home health aide, as specified. The bill would authorize an applicant or certificate holder whose application to be a nurse assistant or home health aide was denied or certificate was suspended or revoked on the basis of a criminal conviction to, during a period of 2 years after the department receives the criminal record report, provide the department with evidence of good character and rehabilitation or provide the department with evidence that the criminal conviction is no longer grounds for denial, as specified. The bill would prescribe requirements for the department in requesting or acting on a nursing assistant or home health aide applicant's criminal history information, including if the department decides to deny a training and examination application or certificate. The bill would authorize the department to initiate an action to suspend or revoke a certificate for professional misconduct warranting cause for discipline, as specified. Upon a determination to revoke or suspend a certificate, the bill would prescribe the requirements for the department to notify the certificate holder in writing by certified mail, including providing information about the procedure for the certificate holder to challenge the determination or request reconsideration. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law governs the certification of a certified nurse assistant in a licensed skilled nursing or intermediate care facility. Existing law requires renewal of that certification to be conditional upon specified occurrences, including that the certificate holder submitted documentation of completion of 48 hours of in-service training every 2 years, as specified. Existing law requires at least 12 of the 48 hours of in-service training to be completed in each of the 2 years. Existing law requires that 24 of the 48 hours may be obtained through a specified online computer training program. In order to renew an unexpired certificate, existing law requires the certificate holder to, on or before the expiration date, apply for renewal on a form provided by the department and to submit documentation of the required in-service training. Existing law authorizes an expired certificate to be renewed at any time within 2 years of its expiration on the filing of an application for renewal on a form provided by the department and documentation of the required in-service education. This bill would additionally authorize the certificate holder to submit documentation of 48 hours of continuing education every 2 years. The bill would require at least 12 of the 48 hours of continuous education or in-service training to be completed in each of the 2 years. The bill would authorize the 48 continuing education or in-service hours to be obtained through in-person instructions, synchronous online instruction, asynchronous online instruction, or other distance learning formats approved by the department. This bill would require, to renew an unexpired certificate, or authorize, to renew an expired certificate within 2 years after expiration, the certificate holder to submit documentation of the continuing education or in-service training. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
(1) Existing law, the Nursing Practice Act, establishes the Board of Registered Nursing to license and regulate the practice of nursing. Existing law requires an applicant for licensure as a registered nurse to comply with specified education and other requirements. This bill would also require an applicant for licensure as a registered nurse to undergo a fingerprint-based state and national criminal history background check, would require the board to submit to the Department of Justice (department) fingerprint images and related information for applicants, and would require the department to provide a state- and federal-level response, as specified. (2) Existing law requires the department to maintain state summary criminal history information, as defined, and to furnish this information to various state and local government officers and officials, as well as other prescribed entities, including, among others, a city, county, city and county, or district, if needed in the course of their duties. Existing law authorizes the Attorney General to furnish state summary criminal history information and, if authorized, federal-level criminal history information, upon a showing of a compelling need, to specified entities, including, among others, peace officers of the United States, other states, or territories or possessions of the United States. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to furnish criminal history information to a person who is not authorized by law to receive it. This bill would instead make those provisions applicable to a city, county, city and county, or governmental district. The bill would also authorize the Attorney General to provide that information to peace officers of tribes in other states under the same conditions. The bill would prescribe a procedure by which a city, county, city and county, or governmental district submit fingerprint images and related information to the department. The bill would make a release of information by the department under these provisions subject to specified federal regulations. By expanding access to criminal history information, this bill would expand a crime and therefore impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires employees, prospective employees, volunteers, contractors, and subcontractors of a criminal justice agency to undergo a fingerprint-based state and national criminal history background check. Existing law requires the department to provide a state- and federal-level response, as specified. This bill would make that provision, with regard to a volunteer, contractor, or subcontractor, only applicable to a volunteer, contractor, or subcontractor who either provides services for the administration of criminal justice or has direct or remote access to the criminal justice agency's systems or unescorted access to a criminal justice agency's facilities. (4) Existing law requires employees of entities that have contracts with a private school or heritage school and provide services, including schoolsite administrative or grounds, landscape maintenance, and instruction, to provide their fingerprints to the department, as specified. Existing law requires employees of an entity that contracts with a local educational agency to complete a criminal background check, as specified. Under existing law, a county, city, city and county, or special district is required to have specified prospective employees or volunteers complete a background check that inquires as to whether the applicant has been convicted of certain offenses. Existing law also requires the submission of fingerprints to the department for certifying a massage professional, licensing a professional fiduciary, registering a tax preparer, confirming the appointment of a humane officer, working for a bank or its affiliates, and licensing an escrow agent, as specified. Existing law requires the department to ascertain whether the individual whose fingerprints were submitted has been arrested or convicted of a crime and notify the employer if the person has been convicted of specified felonies. Existing law authorizes the department to notify specified entities of pending criminal proceedings. This bill would instead require those background checks to be submitted pursuant to the provisions above and would make conforming changes. (5) Existing law authorizes a human resource agency, as defined, or a nonprofit corporation or other organization specified by the Attorney General that employs or uses the services of volunteers in positions in which the volunteer or employee has supervisory or disciplinary power over a child or children to request from the department records of all convictions or any arrest pending adjudication involving specified offenses of a person who applies for a license, employment, or volunteer position in which they would have supervisory or disciplinary power over a minor or any person under their care. This bill would revise and recast those provisions to instead allow a qualified entity, as defined, to require a covered individual, as defined, to undergo a fingerprint-based state and national criminal history background check and would authorize a qualified entity to get a subsequent arrest notification pursuant to the provisions above. By expanding access to criminal history information, this bill would expand a crime and therefore impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make any statutory requirement for an entity to conduct a federal criminal history information check for licensing, certification, or employment purposes inapplicable until the Federal Bureau of Investigation authorizes the entity to conduct a federal criminal history information check, as specified. If the Federal Bureau of Investigation authorizes an entity to conduct a federal criminal history information check, the bill would require the entity to require an applicant, licensee, certified individual, or employee who did not previously undergo a federal criminal history information check to resubmit their fingerprints for that purpose. (6) Existing law requires an application used to determine the eligibility to own a firearm to include 2 copies of the applicant's fingerprints. This bill would instead require an applicant for a certificate of eligibility and a dangerous weapons license or permit issued by the department, including, among other weapons, an assault weapon or short-barreled shotgun, to submit to the department fingerprint images and related information for purposes of conducting a state and national criminal history background check, as specified, and for the purpose of determining if the applicant is prohibited by state or federal law from possessing, receiving, owning, or purchasing a firearm. The bill would require the department to retain the fingerprint impressions for subsequent arrest notification, as specified. (7) Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to screen all providers and designate each provider as "limited," "moderate," or "high" categorical risk. For all providers designated as a "high" categorical risk, existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services, or its designee, to conduct a criminal background check and require specified individuals to submit a set of fingerprints within 30 days of the State Department of Health Care Services's request in a manner specified by the State Department of Health Care Services. This bill would instead add the State Department of Public Health in place of the State Department of Health Care Services's authority to have a designee for these purposes. The bill would require, as an alternative to the State Department of Health Care Services, the State Department of Public Health to prescribe the manner by which a person submits their fingerprints. (8) Existing law requires the State Department of Health Care Services to require that specified applicants, providers, and individuals submit fingerprint images and related information for purposes of a state and federal criminal background check and prescribes a procedure for the State Department of Health Care Services and the department to follow for these purposes. This bill would also add the State Department of Public Health to this requirement and procedure as an alternative to the State Department of Health Care Services and would instead require the information be submitted for specified individuals who are subject to a state and national criminal history background checks. The bill would define "applicant" and "provider" for these purposes. (9) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to license and regulate community care facilities, residential care facilities for persons with chronic, life-threatening illness, residential care facilities for the elderly, and childcare centers. Existing law requires the department to obtain a criminal record for all applicants for licenses for these facilities and services and specified other employees and officers of these facilities, including, among others, adults responsible for the administration or direct supervision of staff, a staff person, volunteer, or employee who has contact with clients, and, if the applicant is a firm, partnership, association, or corporation, the chief executive officer or other person serving in a like capacity. This bill would expand the list of individuals to include, among others, an administrator, supervisor, manager, or director of the facility, or an individual acting in those roles, an adult responsible for the operation of the facility, and a person with a 10% or greater financial interest in the applicant. The bill would clarify that a staff person, volunteer, or employee who has direct contact with clients includes adults and minors. The bill would also include limited liability companies in the list of applicant types to which these provisions apply. By expanding access to criminal history information, this bill would expand a crime and therefore impose a state-mandated local program. (10) Existing law authorizes specified governmental entities to require employees, prospective employees, volunteers, contractors, and subcontractors to undergo fingerprint-based state and national criminal history background checks. Existing law establishes the Business and Consumer Services Agency, the California Housing and Homelessness Agency, and the Housing Development and Finance Committee. Existing law sets forth the general responsibilities and roles of the California Housing Finance Agency, the California Housing and Homelessness Agency, the Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Housing Development and Finance Committee in carrying out state housing policies and programs. This bill would authorize the Housing Development and Finance Committee to require an employee, prospective employee, volunteer, contractor, or subcontractor to undergo a fingerprint-based state and national criminal history background check, as specified. The bill would require the department to provide a state- and federal-level response. By expanding access to criminal history information, this bill would expand a crime and therefore impose a state-mandated local program. (11) Existing law, the Yacht and Ship Brokers Act, prohibits a person from, among other things, acting as a broker or salesperson for the purchase or sale of a yacht without a license. The act authorizes the issuance of a temporary license to a salesperson under specified conditions. The act requires an applicant for a broker or salesperson license to undergo a fingerprint-based state and national criminal history background check. This bill would authorize a temporary license to be issued to a broker. The bill would also authorize the Deputy Director of Boating and Waterways to extend the term of a temporary license or issue a new temporary license to provide an applicant for a broker or salesperson license time to comply with the criminal history background requirement, as specified. (12) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 44237 of the Education Code proposed by SB 685 to be operative only if this bill and SB 685 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (13) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 11105 of the Penal Code proposed by AB 2001 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2001 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (14) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. (15) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Respiratory Care Practice Act, establishes the Respiratory Care Board of California to license and regulate respiratory care practitioners. Existing law authorizes the board to employ an executive office, as specified. Existing law establishes fees for license and examination requirements for respiratory care practitioners, including an initial license fee of no more than $300 and a license renewal fee at $230, as specified. Existing law authorizes the board to increase the license renewal fee, by regulation, to no more than $330. Existing law repeals the existence of the board and the authority for employment of an executive officer on January 1, 2027. This bill would extend the operation of the existence of the board and the executive officer to January 1, 2031, and would delete the initial license fee provision. The bill would increase the license renewal fee to $330 and would authorize the board to increase the license renewal fee, by regulation, to $375. Existing law establishes requirements for licensure as a respiratory care practitioner and generally prohibits an applicant for licensure from being licensed without first successfully passing the National Board for Respiratory Care's Therapist Multiple-Choice Examination, at the cut-off level required to qualify for the Clinical Simulation Examination, and the Clinical Simulation Examination, or any succeeding examinations. This bill would revise the above provision to instead prohibit an applicant from being licensed under these provisions without first successfully passing the National Board for Respiratory Care's Respiratory Therapy Examination, at the cut-off level required to qualify for the Registered Respiratory Therapist credential, or any succeeding examinations. Existing law authorizes the board to order the denial, suspension, or revocation of, or the imposition of probationary conditions upon, a license of a respiratory care practitioner for certain specified acts, including the commission of any fraudulent, dishonest, or corrupt act that is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a licensee. Existing law further requires the board to revoke or suspend a license for the conviction of a crime that is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a licensee. Existing law deems a crime involving sexual misconduct or attempted sexual misconduct, regardless of whether committed with a patient, to be a substantially related crime and requires the board to revoke a license for sexual contact with a patient or for the commission of, or conviction for, a sex offense, as defined. This bill would additionally require the board to suspend the license of a respiratory care practitioner convicted of specified felonies, regardless of whether the offense was committed in the course of practice, and notwithstanding any other provision. The bill would require the board to revoke the license if the specified conviction becomes final. The bill would authorize the board to decline to impose or to set aside a suspension in the interest of justice and would require the board to rescind a license suspension or revocation if the conviction is overturned, as provided. The bill would authorize a licensee to request a hearing to determine the appropriate level of discipline and would prohibit an administrative law judge from considering expert testimony regarding whether the conviction is substantially related to the practice of respiratory care. The Respiratory Care Practice Act authorizes the board to promulgate regulations defining specified levels of respiratory care, with each requiring a greater degree of training or skill to perform. Existing law specifies the lowest level as basic services, which are tasks or services that do not require a respiratory assessment and only require manual, technical skills, or data collection. Existing law, the Vocational Nursing Practice Act, limits a licensed vocational nurse to basic respiratory tasks and services, as prescribed. Existing law exempts from the Respiratory Care Practice Act specified tasks performed by a licensed vocational nurse. In this regard, existing law authorizes a licensed vocational nurse to perform respiratory tasks and services under specified circumstances that vary depending on the task or service, the nurse's training, demonstrated competency, and employer, and the setting in which the task or service is performed, as provided. Specifically, existing law authorizes a licensed vocational nurse who is employed by a home health agency to perform respiratory tasks and services identified by the board if, on or before January 1, 2028, the licensed vocational nurse has completed patient-specific training satisfactory to their employer, and, on and after that date, the licensed vocational nurse has completed that training in accordance with guidelines promulgated by the board, in collaboration with the Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians of the State of California. This bill would expand the respiratory tasks and services a licensed vocational nurse is authorized to perform. In this regard, the bill would remove the above requirement that a licensed vocational nurse be employed by a home health agency to perform respiratory tasks and services identified by the board, and would, instead, authorize a licensed vocational nurse to perform these services in expanded settings, including, among others, congregate living health facilities, group homes, and adult residential facilities. The bill would authorize a licensed vocational nurse to perform certain suctioning tasks, as specified. Existing law specifies that the Respiratory Care Practice Act is not intended to limit, preclude, or otherwise interfere with the practice of other licensed personnel carrying out authorized and customary duties and functions. This bill would provide that certain activities are not considered to be practicing respiratory care, including documenting observations and gathering and reporting data to another health care provider, as specified.
Existing law, the Naturopathic Doctors Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of naturopathic doctors by the California Board of Naturopathic Medicine. Existing law repeals the act on January 1, 2027. This bill would extend operation of the act until an unspecified date. Existing law defines naturopathic medicine and authorizes a naturopathic doctor to perform specific health care functions. Existing law authorizes a naturopathic doctor to dispense, administer, order, prescribe, and furnish or perform, among other things, repair and care incidental to superficial lacerations and abrasions, except suturing, and the removal of foreign bodies located in the superficial tissues. This bill would, instead, authorize a naturopathic doctor to dispense, administer, order, prescribe, and furnish or perform minor office procedures, defined, in part, to mean care and operative procedures relative to lacerations, skin lesions, and abrasions, the incision and drainage of abscesses, and the trephination of subungual hematomas, among other specified procedures. Existing law authorizes a naturopathic doctor to furnish or order drugs, including Schedule III to Schedule V, inclusive, controlled substances, under specified circumstances, including, among others, that the drugs are furnished or ordered under the supervision of a physician and surgeon and in accordance with standardized procedures or protocols developed by the naturopathic doctor and their supervising physician and surgeon and that the board has certified that the naturopathic doctor has completed coursework in pharmacology, as specified. Existing law authorizes a naturopathic doctor to independently prescribe and administer other specified drugs. This bill would revise and recast the above-described authorizations to instead authorize a naturopathic doctor to furnish, order, or prescribe drugs, including, among others, Schedule II to Schedule V, inclusive, controlled substances, and would remove the supervision and standardized procedure requirements. The bill would make conforming changes.
The Personal Income Tax Law allows various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. This bill would allow a credit against those taxes to a licensed nurse employed at a rural health facility, as specified, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2027, and before January 1, 2032, in an amount equal to $2,000 per taxpayer per taxable year. The bill would require the Department of Health Care Access and Information to provide an annual list to the Franchise Tax Board of rural health facilities, as specified. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure, as defined, to include tax credits, to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include findings and reporting requirements in compliance with this requirement. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
