BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 1384 (Mitchell) - Certified nurse assistants.
Amended: April 30, 2014 Policy Vote: Health 7-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 12, 2014 Consultant: Brendan McCarthy
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1384 would eliminate the requirement that the
Department of Public Health deny an application for a
certificate to be a certified nurse assistant based on a
conviction for specified offenses. The bill would impose a
presumption of rehabilitation, provided certain conditions are
met, reducing the Department's ability to use discretion when
determining whether to deny a certificate for criminal
convictions related to the applicant's qualification to be a
certified nurse assistant.
Fiscal Impact:
Potential one-time costs up to $150,000 to revise existing
regulations (Licensing and Certification Program Fund).
Unknown increase in staff costs to review applications for
a certificate (Licensing and Certification Program Fund).
While the bill would eliminate the mandatory denial of a
certificate for specified offenses, the Department would
still have the ability to use discretion to deny an
application for conviction of a crime related to the duties
of a certified nurse assistant. Workload for the Department
to review such cases is expected to increase because
additional scrutiny will be needed by the Department to
determine whether the circumstances of a conviction are
sufficient to rebut the presumption of rehabilitation
included in the bill. In addition, the current automatic
denial of an application based on specified convictions most
likely discourages potential applicants with criminal
convictions. Therefore, removal of the requirement for
automatic denial will very likely increase the number of
applicants with criminal convictions.
Background: Under current law, the Department of Public Health
SB 1384 (Mitchell)
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certifies nurse assistants. Certified nurse assistants typically
work in nursing homes or hospitals, providing direct patient
care under the supervision of a licensed vocational nurse or
registered nurse.
Under current law, the Department is required to reject an
application or revoke a certificate for specified criminal
convictions such as murder, robbery, elder abuse, theft, and
other offenses. A certification can be issued if the applicant
has received a certificate of rehabilitation, the conviction was
for a misdemeanor that has been dismissed, the person had
previously disclosed his or her convictions to the Department
and the Department determined that the conviction does not
disqualify the person from certification, or the person was
convicted of a misdemeanor and has not had a subsequent
conviction for five years. In addition, under current law, the
Department has discretion to deny an application under certain
circumstances (for example the conviction for a crime
substantially related to the duties of a certified nurse
assistant without demonstrating rehabilitation).
Proposed Law: SB 1384 would eliminate the requirement that the
Department of Public Health deny an application for a
certificate to be a certified nurse assistant based on a
conviction for specified offenses.
The bill would impose a presumption of rehabilitation, provided
certain conditions are met, reducing the Department's ability to
use discretion when determining whether to deny a certificate
for criminal convictions related to the applicant's
qualification to be a certified nurse assistant.
Related Legislation: AB 1689 (Conway) would require the
Department of Public Health to post on its internet site a
registry of certified nurse assistants with information about
the certification status. That bill is pending in the Assembly
Health Committee.
SB 1384 (Mitchell)
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