BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 307 (Price) - Healing arts: Veterinary Medical Board.
Amended: April 24, 2013 Policy Vote: BP&ED 10-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 13, 2013 Consultant: Mark McKenzie
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 307 would extend the sunset of the Veterinary
Medical Board (VMB) and its executive officer until January 1,
2016. The bill would also require the VMB to endeavor to
conduct inspections of 20% of veterinary premises, establish a
permit program for veterinary assistants, and make changes to
the Veterinary Medicine Multidisciplinary Advisory Committee.
Fiscal Impact:
Projected costs of nearly $3 million annually (VMB
Contingency Fund), supporting 12.8 PY, until January 1,
2016, fully offset by existing fees.
Additional expenditures of approximately $265,000 annually
for 2 PY (one Office Technician and one Staff Services
Analyst) and associated costs to meet the goal of inspecting
20% of veterinary premises (VMB Contingency Fund).
Additional expenditures of $129,000 annually for 2 PY (one
Office Technician and one Staff Services Analyst), beginning
in 2015-16, to support the workload associated with
administering a permit program for veterinary assistants who
access controlled substances (VMB Contingency Fund).
Department of Justice costs of $209,000 in 2015-16, with
projected ongoing annual costs of $42,000 to conduct
background checks for veterinary assistant applicants
(Fingerprint Fee Account). DOJ costs would be reimbursed by
the VMB.
Estimated new fee revenues of approximately $350,000 in
2015-16 related to the permit program, with minor ongoing
revenues as new veterinary assistants apply for permits (VMB
Contingency Fund).
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Background: The Veterinary Medical Board, consisting of four
licensed veterinarians, one registered veterinary technician,
and three public members, licenses and regulates approximately
15,900 veterinarians and 8,600 registered veterinary
technicians. The VMB is subject to regular review by the Joint
Legislative Sunset Review Committee, and is currently scheduled
to sunset on January 1, 2014.
Proposed Law: SB 307 would extend the sunset of the VMB and its
executive officer until January 1, 2016. The bill would also
implement the following changes recommended through the sunset
review process:
Require the VMB to make every effort to inspect at least
20% of veterinary premises on an annual basis, and specify
that animal rescue or adoption centers are not included in
the inspection program.
Add two VMB board members to the Veterinary Medicine
Multidisciplinary Advisory Committee, as specified, and
state legislative intent that the committee should consider
issues pertaining to the practice of registered veterinary
technicians.
Establish a permit program for veterinary assistants who
have access to controlled substances, under which a permit
applicant would provide the VMB with a set of fingerprints
that could be submitted to the Department of Justice and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation to obtain criminal
history information.
Provide that the veterinary assistant permit program
would only be implemented after January 1, 2015, and only
if the VMB receives sufficient staffing and a fee to cover
costs related to the background checks.
Related Legislation: This bill is one of several bills
introduced this session to extend the sunset on licensing boards
within the Department of Consumer Affairs - including SB 305
(Price), SB 306 (Price), SB 307 (Price), SB 308 (Price), and SB
309 (Price).
Staff Comments: Existing law authorizes the VMB to inspect
specified veterinary premises at any time, and requires the
board to establish a regular inspection program that provides
for unannounced inspections. According to the VMB, the level of
funding provided in the 2012-13 fiscal year only provides for
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the inspection of approximately 240 of the 3,400 registered
veterinary premises in the state. Based on a review of the
inspection program in the sunset review process, it was
determined that the VMB should inspect at least 20% of
veterinary premises, or roughly 700 inspections annually.
The VMB indicates that it would need approximately $265,000 in
additional resources in order to achieve this goal. This
includes funding for 2 permanent positions to support the
inspection program and $137,000 for travel, per diem, and
training costs. The VMB Contingency Fund currently has a
projected reserve of approximately $2.4 million.
Existing law authorizes registered veterinary technicians and
veterinary assistants to administer a drug, including controlled
substances, under the direct or indirect supervision of a
licensed veterinarian, as specified. Access to controlled
substances is limited to persons who have undergone a background
check, and who are not known to have had any drug or alcohol
related convictions. The Department of Justice has indicated
that they are unable to provide background information on
veterinarian assistants to the VMB unless they are under the
authority of the board.
This bill would establish a veterinary assistant permit program
so that VMB can require fingerprints of applicants and obtain a
criminal history from DOJ. To ensure that the VMB has
sufficient resources to administer background checks, the bill
requires that the permit program is contingent upon the VMB
receiving sufficient staffing and a fee to cover its
administrative costs, and specifies that the program would not
be operative until January 1, 2015. VMB indicates that a fee of
$50 on an estimated population of 7,000 applicants would
generate $350,000, which would be sufficient to cover costs for
2 PY of staff and to reimburse DOJ for costs to provide criminal
history information.