BILL NUMBER: AB 1975 CHAPTERED 09/24/04 CHAPTER 756 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 24, 2004 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 24, 2004 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 27, 2004 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 25, 2004 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 19, 2004 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 29, 2004 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 10, 2004 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 26, 2004 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bermudez (Coauthors: Assembly Members Correa, Maze, and Vargas) FEBRUARY 12, 2004 An act to amend Section 2232 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to medicine. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1975, Bermudez. Physicians and surgeons. The Medical Practice Act provides for the licensing of physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of California. Existing law requires the board to promptly revoke the license of any person who is subject to or becomes subject to a requirement to register with the police as a sex offender, other than a person who is required to register as a sex offender solely because of a certain misdemeanor conviction. Existing law establishes a process for a person whose license is revoked under these provisions to petition the superior court for reinstatement of the license on the grounds that the person no longer poses a possible risk to patients. This bill would revise these provisions to require the board to promptly revoke the license of any person subject to the requirement to register with the police as a sex offender on or after January 1, 1947, except in the case of certain misdemeanor convictions or unless the duty to register as a sex offender has been terminated. The bill would revise the provisions authorizing a petition of the superior court for reinstatement of a revoked license. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that the bill be applied retrospectively as well as prospectively. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) According to the Center for Sex Offender Management, a project of the United States Department of Justice: (1) Sex offender registration was first used in the United States in the 1930s. (2) Current sex offender registration statutes make sex offenders, because of the nature of their offenses, more visible to law enforcement and the public, with the intent of increasing public safety. (3) Sex offender registration statutes are promoted as a means of all of the following: (A) Deterring offenders from committing future crimes. (B) Providing law enforcement with an additional investigative tool. (C) Increasing public protection. (b) The first of the current sex offender registration statutes was enacted in California in 1947 as Section 290 of the Penal Code. (c) In California, the Medical Practice Act provides for licensing of physicians and surgeons by the Medical Board of California. (d) Existing law requires the Medical Board of California to promptly revoke the license of any person who is subject to or becomes subject to a requirement to register as a sex offender. SEC. 2. It is the intent of the Legislature, in order to protect and safeguard all persons seeking medical care and treatment from potential harm, to construe and clarify the meaning and effect of existing law and to thereby provide that the provisions of Section 3 of this act shall apply retrospectively as well as prospectively. SEC. 3. Section 2232 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 2232. (a) Except as provided in subdivisions (b), (c), and (d), the board shall promptly revoke the license of any person who, at any time after January 1, 1947, has been required to register as a sex offender pursuant to the provisions of Section 290 of the Penal Code. (b) This section shall not apply to a person who is required to register as a sex offender pursuant to Section 290 of the Penal Code solely because of a misdemeanor conviction under Section 314 of the Penal Code. (c) (1) Five years after the effective date of the revocation and three years after successful discharge from parole, probation, or both parole and probation if under simultaneous supervision, an individual who after January 1, 1947, and prior to January 1, 2005, was subject to subdivision (a), may petition the superior court, in the county in which the individual has resided for, at minimum, five years prior to filing the petition, to hold a hearing within one year of the date of the petition, in order for the court to determine whether the individual no longer poses a possible risk to patients. The individual shall provide notice of the petition to the Attorney General and to the board at the time of its filing. The Attorney General and the board may present written and oral argument to the court on the merits of the petition. (2) If the court finds that the individual no longer poses a possible risk to patients, and there are no other underlying reasons for which the board pursued disciplinary action, the court shall order, in writing, the board to reinstate the individual's license within 180 days of the date of the order. The board may issue a probationary license to a person subject to this paragraph subject to terms and conditions, including, but not limited to, any of the conditions of probation specified in Section 2221. (3) If the court finds that the individual continues to pose a possible risk to patients, the court shall deny relief. The court's decision shall be binding on the individual and the board, and the individual shall be prohibited from filing a subsequent petition under this section based on the same conviction. (d) This section shall not apply to a person who has been relieved under Section 290.5 of the Penal Code of his or her duty to register as a sex offender, or whose duty to register has otherwise been formally terminated under California law.