BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 541|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 541
Author: Price (D)
Amended: 4/13/11
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE : 8-0, 5/2/11
AYES: Price, Emmerson, Correa, Hernandez, Negrete McLeod,
Vargas, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Corbett
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Regulatory boards: expert consultants
SOURCE : Contractors State License Board
Medical Board of California
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the boards and bureaus
within the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), as well as
the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners (SBCE), and the
Osteopathic Medical Board (OMB) to continue to utilize
expert consultants, as done in the past, without having to
go through the formal contracting process.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1. Provides for the licensing and regulation of various
professions and businesses by some 23 boards, four
committees, seven bureaus, and one1 commission within
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the DCA under various licensing acts within the Business
and Professions Code (BPC).
2. Licenses and regulates chiropractors by SBCE under the
Chiropractic Act, enacted by initiative.
3. Licenses and regulates osteopathic physicians and
surgeons by the OMB under the Osteopathic Act.
4. Generally requires applicants for a license to pass an
examination and authorizes boards to take disciplinary
action against licensees for violations of law.
5. Establishes standards relating to personal service
contracts in state employment, and authorizes their use
under specified circumstances, including:
A. The services contracted are not available within
civil service, cannot be performed satisfactorily by
civil service employees, or are of such a highly
specialized or technical nature that the necessary
expert knowledge, experience, and ability are not
available through the civil service system.
B. The legislative, administrative, or legal goals
and purposes cannot be accomplished through the
utilization of persons selected pursuant to the
regular civil service system.
C. The services are of such an urgent, temporary, or
occasional nature that the delay incumbent in their
implementation under civil service would frustrate
their very purpose.
6. Requires, under the State Contract Act, state agencies
to meet certain conditions before entering into a
consulting services contract (personal services
contract).
This bill:
1. Authorizes any board, within DCA, the SBCE, and the OMB
to enter into an agreement, as specified, with an expert
consultant to do any of the following:
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A. Provide an expert opinion on enforcement-related
matters, including providing testimony at an
administrative hearing.
B. Assist the board as a subject matter expert in
examination development, examination validation, or
occupational analyses.
C. Evaluate the mental or physical health of a
licensee or an applicant for a license as may be
necessary to protect the public health and safety.
2. Specifies that an executed contract between a board and
an expert consultant shall be exempt from the State
Contract Act.
3. Requires each board to establish policies and procedures
for the selection and use of these consultants.
Background
DCA boards and bureaus regularly enlist the expertise of
their own licensees to assist with evaluating investigative
documents, applications, educational and examination
materials. Rather than placing these "subject matter
experts" on payroll, they are hired as consultants on an
as-needed basis. Subject matter experts are paid an hourly
fee for the services they provide, which typically include:
Providing expert opinion in enforcement matter from the
initial review through testifying at a hearing.
Evaluating applications for applicant licensure.
Evaluating curriculum content and other requirements for
school or program approval.
Developing professional licensing exams.
For years, these consultants were not required to enter
into formal contract agreements, which can be laborious,
cumbersome and time-consuming to execute. The boards and
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bureaus operated with customized agreements that did not
require the review or approval of oversight entities. This
process allowed the boards and bureaus to select a
consultant and get them started on the services in a matter
of days, rather than weeks or months. However, on November
10, 2010, DCA issued a memorandum instructing the boards
and bureaus that they are now required to enter into formal
consulting services contracts that follow all guidelines,
procedures, and rules governed by the State Contracting
Manual and the California Public Contract Code.
The memo states that DCA recognized the potential for
delays in obtaining consulting services and indicated that
a rollout plan will be developed to minimize the impact to
licensing and enforcement units.
Difficulties in identifying, hiring and training subject
matter experts were identified as a problem and a reason
for delays in completing enforcement cases by DCA's own
Consumer Protection Enforcement Initiative (CPEI) in June
2010. The CPEI is a comprehensive plan to address
long-standing enforcement backlogs, including an intense
review of pending cases at the Division of Investigation,
recommended regulatory changes, and an enhanced tracking of
pending cases. CPEI was created in direct response to a
series of articles that ran in the Los Angeles Times,
beginning in July 2009, which highlighted extreme delays in
investigating and prosecuting enforcement cases at the
Board of Registered Nursing. When developing CPEI, DCA
conducted a review of existing enforcement processes which
identified systemic problems for all of the DCA boards, not
just Board of Registered Nursing, that limits the boards'
abilities to investigate and act on cases in a timely
manner. These problems range from legal and procedural
challenges to inadequate resources. The CPEI is designed
to overhaul the enforcement process at the healing arts
boards and to address the following three specific areas:
administrative improvements, staffing and information
technology improvements, and legislative changes.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/17/11)
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Contractors State License Board (source)
Medical Board of California (source)
Board of Pharmacy
Board of Podiatric Medicine
Board of Psychology
Board of Registered Nursing
Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians
California Board of Barbering and Cosmetology
California State Board of Optometry
Court Reporters Board of California
Court Reporters Board of California
Dental Board of California
Respiratory Care Board of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : This bill's sponsor, Contractors
State License Board (CSLB) writes: "It is critical for
CSLB, as well as consumers and licensees, that CSLB have
the ability to expeditiously contract for the services of
an industry expert. If we are unable to do so, our
timeframe for enforcement actions will likely increase,
potentially significantly, as we would be required to
complete the formal contracting process each time we need
the services of an industry expert."
Also sponsoring this bill, the Medical Board of California
(MBC) states that going through the formal contracting
process in to utilize an expert reviewer will create
enormous backlogs for both DCA and the MBC and will
significantly impact the time required to complete the
initial review and investigate complaints. In addition,
this will severely limit the MBC's ability to take
disciplinary actions against physicians, ultimately leading
to tremendous case delays. This could mean that cases
would be lost due to the statute of limitations expiring.
Court Reporters Board of California writes that this bill
is a critical component to its mission-critical ongoing
examination development process, "We use working court
reporters as subject matter experts to develop our license
examination. As court reporters' schedules change right up
to the last minute, its imperative we have the flexibility
to change the attendees right up to the day of the exam
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development workshop. To create contracts with hundreds of
potential subject matter experts would not only require
endless hours of staff time, it would encumber a huge
portion of our small budget."
JJA:kc 5/17/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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