BILL NUMBER: AB 702 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 611
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 6, 2005
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 6, 2005
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 25, 2005
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY JUNE 2, 2005
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 27, 2005
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 27, 2005
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 4, 2005
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Koretz
(Coauthor: Senator Florez)
FEBRUARY 17, 2005
An act to amend Section 128385 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to nursing education.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 702, Koretz Nursing education.
Existing law requires the Office of Statewide Health Planning and
Development to establish the Health Professions Education Foundation,
a public benefit corporation, for the purpose of providing financial
assistance in the form of scholarships or loans for educational
costs of registered nurses or graduates of associate degree nursing
programs who agree to serve in underrepresented areas.
This bill would, in addition, allow the office to provide
financial assistance to students who are seeking a master's or
doctoral degree in nursing. The bill would require that a registered
nurse and student must commit to teaching nursing in a California
nursing school for 5 years in order to receive a scholarship or loan
repayment for a master's or doctoral degree program.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) According to a study by researchers at the University of
California, San Francisco (UCSF), and the Public Policy Institute of
California completed in December 2003, the state faces a shortage of
registered nurses (RNs), and must increase the supply to keep pace
with the rapid growth of the state's population.
(2) Based on California's projected population growth, researchers
from the UCSF Center for California Health Workforce Studies
estimated that an additional 43,000 registered nurses will be needed
by 2010, and an additional 74,000 by 2020, to maintain a stable ratio
of RNs to population.
(3) There is also a critical shortage of nurse educators holding
master's or doctoral degrees, as well as a lack of master's and
doctoral degree nursing students. According to the American
Association of Colleges of Nursing, the average doctoral faculty
member is currently 54 years old. A wave of retirements is expected
within the next 10 years. Without nurse educators, nursing programs
cannot be expanded to meet current and future needs.
(4) To increase the supply of RNs in California, there must be an
expansion of nursing educator opportunities in public colleges and
universities that will produce the necessary faculty to teach in
nursing programs in the state.
SEC. 2. Section 128385 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
128385. (a) There is hereby created the Registered Nurse
Education Program within the Health Professions Education Foundation.
Persons participating in this program shall be persons who agree in
writing prior to graduation to serve in an eligible county health
facility, an eligible state-operated health facility, a health
manpower shortage area, or a California nursing school, as designated
by the director of the office. Persons agreeing to serve in eligible
county health facilities, eligible state-operated health facilities,
or health manpower shortage areas, and master's or doctoral students
agreeing to serve in a California nursing school may apply for
scholarship or loan repayment. The Registered Nurse Education Program
shall be administered in accordance with Article 1 (commencing with
Section 128330), except that all funds in the Registered Nurse
Education Fund shall be used only for the purpose of promoting the
education of registered nurses and related administrative costs. The
Health Professions Education Foundation shall make recommendations to
the director of the office concerning both of the following:
(1) A standard contractual agreement to be signed by the director
and any student who has received an award to work in an eligible
county health facility, an eligible state-operated health facility,
or in a health manpower shortage area that would require a period of
obligated professional service in the areas of California designated
by the California Healthcare Workforce Policy Commission as deficient
in primary care services. The obligated professional service shall
be in direct patient care. The agreement shall include a clause
entitling the state to recover the funds awarded plus the maximum
allowable interest for failure to begin or complete the service
obligation.
(2) Maximum allowable amounts for scholarships, educational loans,
and loan repayment programs in order to assure the most effective
use of these funds.
(b) Applicants may be persons licensed as registered nurses,
graduates of associate degree nursing programs prior to entering a
program granting a baccalaureate of science degree in nursing, or
students entering an entry-level master's degree program in
registered nursing or other registered nurse master's or doctoral
degree program approved by the Board of Registered Nursing. Priority
shall be given to applicants who hold associate degrees in nursing.
(c) Registered nurses and students shall commit to teaching
nursing in a California nursing school for five years in order to
receive a scholarship or loan repayment for a master's or doctoral
degree program.
(d) Not more than 5 percent of the funds available under the
Registered Nurse Education Program shall be available for a pilot
project designed to test whether it is possible to encourage
articulation from associate degree nursing programs to baccalaureate
of science degree nursing programs. Persons who otherwise meet the
standards of subdivision (a) shall be eligible for educational loans
when they are enrolled in associate degree nursing programs. If these
persons complete a baccalaureate of science degree nursing program
in California within five years of obtaining an associate degree in
nursing and meet the standards of this article, these loans shall be
completely forgiven.
(e) As used in this section, "eligible county health facility"
means a county health facility that has been determined by the office
to have a nursing vacancy rate greater than noncounty health
facilities located in the same health facility planning area.
(f) As used in this section, "eligible state-operated health
facility" means a state-operated health facility that has been
determined by the office to have a nursing vacancy rate greater than
noncounty health facilities located in the same health facility
planning area.