BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 179|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 179
Author: Bonilla (D), et al.
Amended: 9/4/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BUS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 7-1, 7/6/15
AYES: Hill, Block, Galgiani, Hernandez, Jackson, Mendoza,
Wieckowski
NOES: Bates
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 6-1, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza
NOES: Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 60-17, 6/1/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Healing arts
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill extends the operation of the Dental Board of
California (DBC) until January 1, 2020; increases statutory fee
caps relating to dentists and dental assistants; extends the
operation of the Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric
Technicians (BVNPT) until January 1, 2018; merges the Vocational
Nursing fund and the Psychiatric Technician funds; authorizes
the DBC to suspend the practical exam requirement for licensure
as a registered dental assistant (RDA) after an evaluation of
the exam; removes the requirement that the executive officer of
the BVNPT be a licensed vocational nurse, registered nurse, or
psychiatric technician; and requires the appointment of an
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Administrative and Enforcement Program Monitor (AEPM) to oversee
the BVNPT's disciplinary system.
Senate Floor Amendments of 9/4/15 (1) reinstate the practical
exam requirement for RDAs and state that if the review of the
practical exam concludes that it is unnecessary or does not
accurately measure the competency of the RDA, the DBC may vote
to suspend the practical examination until July 1, 2018; and (2)
add double jointing language with ABs 177 (Bonilla), 180
(Bonilla), and 483 (Patterson).
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Provides for the licensure and regulation of vocational
nurses and psychiatric technicians by the BVNPT and extends
the operation of the BVNPT until January 1, 2016. (Business
and Professions Code (BPC) §§ 2840-2895.5)
2) Establishes the Dental Practice Act (Act), administered by
the DBC within the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), to
license and regulate the practice of dentistry, and sunsets
the DBC on January 1, 2016. (BPC §§ 1600, et seq.)
This bill:
1) Expands the exception to all hearing arts licensees that it
is not unprofessional conduct for a healing arts licensee to
engage in consensual sexual conduct with his or her spouse or
person in an equivalent domestic relationship when that
licensee provides medical treatment, other than
psychotherapeutic treatment, for that person.
2) Extends the DBC's sunset until January 1, 2020.
3) Consolidates references to fees in the general fee
provisions section of the Act and increases fee amounts, as
specified.
4) Requires the DBC to, in consultation with the Office of
Professional Examination Services, conduct a review to
determine whether a practical examination is necessary to
demonstrate competency of RDAs, and if so, how this
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examination should be developed and administered. The DBC
shall submit its review and determination to the appropriate
policy committees of the Legislature on or before July 1,
2017.
5) Authorizes the DBC to vote to suspend the practical
examination until July 1, 2018 if the review conducted by the
Office of Professional Examination Services concludes that
the practical examination is unnecessary or does not
accurately measure the competency of RDA. If the DBC votes
to suspend the practical examination, it shall post a notice
on its Internet Web site stating that the practical
examination has been suspended until July 1, 2018.
6) Removes the requirement that the executive officer of the
BVNPT be a licensed vocational nurse, a licensed professional
nurse, or a licensed psychiatric technician.
7) Extends the sunset date on provisions related to the BVNPT
executive officer until January 1, 2018.
8) Requires the director of the DCA to appoint an AEPM for
BVNPT no later than March 1, 2016, and authorizes the
director to retain a person for this position by a personal
services contract. Requires the director to supervise the
AEPM and authorizes him or her terminate or dismiss the AEPM
from this position. If the director terminates the AEPM, he
or she must appoint a replacement AEPM within two months.
Requires the AEPM to monitor and evaluate the following:
a) BVNPT's administrative processes, with specific
concentration on the management of staff, assistance of
BVNPT members, and working relationship with the
Legislature, as specified.
b) The BVNPT's disciplinary system and procedures, with
specific concentration on improving the overall efficiency
and consistency of the enforcement program, as specified.
1) Requires the AEPM to submit to the DCA, the BVNPT, and the
Legislature an initial written report of his or her findings
and conclusions no later than July 1, 2016, and subsequent
written reports no later than November 1, 2016, and February
1, 2017, and be available to make oral reports to each entity
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if requested to do so. The AEPM may also provide additional
information to either the DCA or the Legislature at his or
her discretion or at the request of either the DCA or the
Legislature. The AEPM shall make his or her reports
available to the public or the media. The AEPM shall make
every effort to provide the BVNPT with an opportunity to
reply to any facts, findings, issues, or conclusions in his
or her reports with which the BVNPT may disagree. Requires
the AEPM to issue a final report before January 1, 2018
including the final findings and conclusions on the topics
addressed in the initial report.
2) Requires DCA's internal audit unit to review the BVNPT's
financial needs, fee structure, budget, and expenditures. The
DCA director shall provide to the Legislature a copy of the
review, no later than October 1, 2016. The director shall
include with this report an overview of the estimated costs
of meeting staffing and other requirements , as specified,
based on findings of the review.
3) Merges the Vocational Nurse Account and the Psychiatric
Technician Examiners Account of the Vocational Nursing and
Psychiatric Technicians Fund on July 1, 2016, to become the
Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians Fund.
4) Adds double jointing language with AB 177 (Bonilla), AB 180
(Bonilla), and AB 483 (Patterson).
Background
In 2015, the Senate Business, Professions and Economic
Development Committee and the Assembly Business and Professions
Committee (Committees) conducted joint oversight hearings to
review 12 regulatory entities including DBC and BVNPT. This
bill is intended to implement legislative changes as recommended
by staff of the Committees reflected in a background paper and
in discussions stemming from an oversight hearing on these
entities.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
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No significant costs are anticipated due to the extension of
the sunset on the DBC (State Dentistry Fund) and BVNPT
(Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians Fund), no
significant costs are anticipated due to the merger of the
Vocational Nurses Account and the Psychiatric Technician
Examiners Account and no significant additional costs are
anticipated to review the current practical examination in use
by the DBC, as it has already begun this process.
Significant increases in licensing fee revenues to the DBC are
possible under this bill (State Dentistry Fund). This bill
authorizes the DBC, through regulation, to raise a number of
licensing fees currently capped in statute. If the DBC were
to raise the fees to the maximum level authorized in this
bill, additional annual revenues would be about $2.8 million
per year for dentist licensing fees and $2.7 million per year
for other regulatory fees (State Dentistry Fund). The actual
amount of fee revenue collected by the DBC will depend on the
actual fee levels set through regulation.
One-time costs of $140,000 to change the information
technology systems used by the DBC to accommodate the
suspension of the practical examination (State Dentistry
Fund). The cost to modify information technology systems
includes changes to the system currently in use by the DBC and
updates to the BreEZe system, which the DBC will begin using
to process licensing applications and renewals in 2016.
Annual costs of about $180,000 per year to support the
Executive Officer position at the BVNPT, including salary,
benefits, and overhead costs (Vocational Nursing and
Psychiatric Technicians Fund). Existing law sunsets the
statutory authority for the Executive Officer position on
January 1, 2016. This bill extends the authority to employ
this position until January 1, 2018.
Total costs of about $350,000 over three fiscal years to
employ an AEPM over the enforcement program at the BVNPT
(Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians Fund).
SUPPORT: (Verified9/4/15)
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None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified9/4/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 60-17, 6/1/15
AYES: Alejo, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown,
Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Mathis,
McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell,
Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas,
Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Williams, Wood,
Atkins
NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Brough, Chávez, Beth Gaines,
Grove, Harper, Irwin, Lackey, Maienschein, Mayes, Melendez,
Olsen, Patterson, Steinorth, Wagner, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Dahle, Gallagher, Waldron
Prepared by:Sarah Huchel / B., P. & E.D. / (916) 651-4104
9/8/15 15:27:19
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