BILL NUMBER: AB 599	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 28, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 6, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bonilla

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2015

   An act to amend Section 1270 of the Business and Professions Code,
relating to clinical laboratories.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 599, as amended, Bonilla. Clinical laboratories:
cytotechnologists.
   Existing law provides for the licensure, registration, and
regulation of clinical laboratories and various clinical laboratory
personnel, including cytotechnologists, by the State Department of
Public Health, subject to certain exceptions. Under existing law,
only a licensed cytotechnologist may perform examinations of
cytological slides.
   This bill would additionally authorize a licensed cytotechnologist
to perform all tests and procedures pertaining to cytology,
including, but not limited to, microscopic and nonmicroscopic
methodologies and tests and procedures that utilize molecular or
genetic methodologies that are performed on cytologic specimens
related to infectious disease or cancer  diagnosis. 
 diagnosis, under the overall operation and administration of a
laboratory director. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1270 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
   1270.  (a) On and after January 1, 1991, no person may perform
examinations of cytological slides without first obtaining a license
as a cytotechnologist from the department, except that those persons
employed by licensed clinical laboratories as cytotechnologists and
certified as cytotechnologists by the department on or before January
1, 1991, shall be licensed by the department on or before January 1,
1993. Cytotechnologist licenses shall be issued and renewed by the
department for periods of two years. This subdivision shall not apply
to persons holding a valid, unrevoked, unsuspended physician's and
surgeon's certificate issued pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with
Section 2000).
   (b) The issuance of a cytotechnologist license shall be contingent
upon the applicant's satisfactory performance, as defined in
regulation, in a competency testing program for cytotechnologists
which may be administered by the department or by a competency
testing service or program approved by the department. The competency
testing program established pursuant to this section shall be
periodically reviewed and revised by the department, if necessary, to
ensure that the program is consistent with federal competency
testing requirements issued under the federal Clinical Laboratory
Improvement Amendments of 1988 (Public Law 100-578; 42 U.S.C. Sec.
263a, Section 353 of the Public Health Service Act).
   (c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the department may issue a
temporary cytotechnologist license to a person who satisfies the
requirements for admission to the examination unless the person has
failed a previous examination for a cytotechnologist license. A
temporary license issued by the department pursuant to this
subdivision shall be valid for a period of time not exceeding 90 days
after the date the department has adopted a competency testing
program pursuant to subdivision (b).
   (d) The department may issue a cytotechnologist license without
examination to an applicant who satisfies one of the following:
   (1) Passage of an examination of a national accrediting board
whose requirements are equal to or greater than those required by
this chapter or by regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter, as
determined by the department.
   (2) Passage of an examination of another state in which the
requirements imposed by laws and regulations regarding the
examination are equal to or greater than those required by this
chapter or by regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter, as
determined by the department.
   This subdivision shall not apply to a person who has passed an
examination of a national accrediting board or another state prior to
that board's or state's establishment of requirements which are
equal to or greater than those required by this chapter or by
regulations adopted pursuant to this chapter, as determined by the
department. The department may, however, make exceptions to the
requirements of this subdivision in cases where the department
determines that the applicant is otherwise qualified for licensure.
   (e) The department shall not issue any temporary cytotechnologist'
s license pursuant to subdivision (c) or any cytotechnologist's
license without examination pursuant to subdivision (d) after the
department adopts a competency testing program pursuant to
subdivision (b).
   (f) A licensed cytotechnologist may perform all tests and
procedures pertaining to cytology, including, but not limited to,
microscopic and nonmicroscopic methodologies and tests and procedures
that utilize molecular or genetic methodologies, that are performed
on cytologic specimens related to infectious disease or cancer
 diagnosis.   diagnosis, under the overall
operation and administration of a laboratory director.