BILL NUMBER: SB 466 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 18, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 30, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 23, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 20, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hill
( Principal coauthor: Assembly Member
Bonilla )
FEBRUARY 25, 2015
An act to amend Section 2786 of, to add Section 2786.1 to, to add
and repeal Section 2711 of, and to repeal Section 2736.5 of, the
Business and Professions Code, relating to nursing.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 466, as amended, Hill. Nursing: Board of Registered Nursing.
The Nursing Practice Act provides for the licensure and regulation
of registered nurses by the Board of Registered Nursing within the
Department of Consumer Affairs, and requires the board to appoint an
executive officer to perform duties delegated by the board. The act
authorizes the board to take disciplinary action against a certified
or licensed nurse or to deny an application for a certificate or
license for certain reasons, including unprofessional conduct.
This bill would require the Director of the Department of Consumer
Affairs to appoint a board enforcement program monitor no later than
March 31, 2016, as specified. The bill would require the enforcement
program monitor to monitor and evaluate the nursing disciplinary
system and procedures and specifically concentrate
recommendations on improving the overall efficiency
and consistency of the enforcement program, including, but
not limited to, assuring ensuring
consistency in the application of board sanctions or
discipline imposed on licensees. The bill would require the
program enforcement monitor to submit an initial written report 6
months after he or she begins the review process and every 6 months
after the initial report to the board, the Director of Consumer
Affairs, and the Legislature, as specified, and would require a final
written report to be submitted by December 31, 2018, as specified.
The bill would make these provisions inoperative on March 31,
2018, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2019.
The act authorizes any person who has served on active duty in the
medical corps of the Armed Forces of the United States and who
successfully completed the course of instruction to qualify him or
her for rating as a medical service technician--independent duty, or
other equivalent rating, and whose service in the Armed Forces was
under honorable conditions to submit the record of that training to
the board for evaluation. The act requires the board to grant a
license to that person if he or she meets specified qualifications
and the board determines that his or her education would give
reasonable assurance of competence to practice as a registered nurse
in this state. The act requires the board to maintain records of
those applicants, including, but not limited to, applicants who are
rejected from examination.
This bill would repeal these provisions.
The act requires the board to maintain a list of approved schools
or programs of nursing in this state, as specified, and provides that
an approved school or program of nursing is one that has been
approved by the board and meets certain academic requirements. The
act requires the board to deny an application for approval of, and to
revoke the approval given to, any school of nursing that does not
give student applicants credit for previous education and the
opportunity to obtain credit for other acquired knowledge by the use
of challenge examinations or other methods of evaluation.
This bill would require the board to deny or revoke approval of a
school of nursing that does not give student applicants credit in the
field of nursing for military education and experience by the use of
challenge examinations or other methods of evaluation. The bill
would require the board, by January 1, 2017, to promulgate
regulations requiring schools seeking approval to have a process to
evaluate and grant credit, as defined, for military education and
experience. The bill would require the board to review a school's
policies and practices regarding granting credit for military
education and experience at least every 5 years to ensure consistency
in evaluation and application across schools. The bill would require
the board to post on its Internet Web site information related to
the acceptance of military coursework and experience at each approved
school.
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 2711 is added to the Business and Professions
Code, to read:
2711. (a) (1) The Director
of Consumer Affairs shall appoint a board enforcement program monitor
no later than March 31, 2016. The director may retain an independent
contractor for this appointment by a personal services contract. The
Legislature hereby finds that the services described in this section
are a new state function, pursuant to Section 19130 of the
Government Code.
(2) The director shall supervise the enforcement program monitor
and may terminate or dismiss the enforcement program monitor from the
appointment.
(b) The director shall advertise the availability of the
enforcement program monitor position. The requirements of the
position shall include, but not be limited to, performance audit
experience and familiarity with state laws, regulations, and
administrative procedures pertaining to the board. The enforcement
program monitor shall not have a pecuniary interest, outside of the
direct compensation referenced in this section, in reviewing the
board or any recommendations made pursuant to this section.
(b)
(c) (1) The enforcement program monitor shall monitor
and evaluate the nursing disciplinary system and procedures and
specifically concentrate recommendations on improving
the overall efficiency and consistency of the
enforcement program. The director shall specify further
duties of the program monitor. The enforcement program
monitor shall develop recommendations that acknowledge the board's
right to exercise reasonable discretion in applying disciplinary
standards to particular circumstances and in deciding individual
cases.
(2) The monitoring duty shall be on a continuing basis for a
period of no more than two years from the date of the enforcement
program monitor's appointment and shall include, but not be limited
to, the following areas:
(A) Improving the quality and consistency of complaint processing
and investigation.
(B) Assuring Ensuring consistency in
the application of board sanctions or discipline imposed
on licensees.
(C) The Ensuring the
accurate and consistent implementation of the laws and rules
affecting discipline, including adhering
adherence to the Consumer Protection Enforcement
Initiative complaint priority guidelines as described in the
memorandum dated August 31, 2009, by Brian J. Stiger titled
"Complaint Prioritization Guidelines for Health Care Agencies."
Division of Investigation Case Acceptance Guidelines
(Consumer Protection Enforcement Initiative Model), as revised July
1, 2014.
(D) Reducing the timeframes for completing complaint processing
and investigation.
(D) Staff
(E) Addressing staff concerns
regarding disciplinary matters or procedures.
(E) Appropriate
(F) Reviewing the appropriate use
of licensed professionals to investigate complaints.
(F) The
(G) Reviewing the board's
cooperation with other governmental entities charged with enforcing
related laws and regulations regarding nurses.
(H) Generally assessing the adequacy of staffing, operations, and
fiscal resources of other governmental entities as they affect the
board's enforcement functions and identifying any delays caused by
these other entities.
(I) Assessing the adequacy of board staffing and fiscal resources
to perform its enforcement functions.
(3) In fulfilling the monitoring duties described in subparagraphs
(A) through (H), inclusive, of paragraph (2), the enforcement
program monitor shall perform those duties consistent with paragraph
(1).
(3)
(4) The enforcement program monitor shall exercise no
authority over the board's discipline operations or staff. However,
the board and its staff shall cooperate with the enforcement program
monitor, and the board shall provide data, information, and case
files requested by the enforcement program monitor to perform all of
his or her duties.
(4)
(5) The director shall assist the
enforcement program monitor in the performance of his or her
duties, and the enforcement program monitor shall have
the same investigative authority as the director.
access to all records and full and complete data in all official
matters that are in possession of the board and the board's members,
officers, and employees.
(c)
(d) The enforcement program monitor shall submit an
initial written report of his or her findings and
conclusions to the board, the department, and the Legislature no
later than September 1, 2016, and every six months thereafter, and be
available to make oral reports to each, if requested to do so. The
enforcement program monitor may also provide additional information
to either the department or the Legislature at his or her discretion
or at the request of either the department or the
recommendations to the board within six months after the enforcement
program monitor begins the review process, and shall submit a report
every six months after the initial report with a final report to be
submitted on or before December 31, 2018. The board shall be given 30
days to review and prepare a response to each written report
beginning from the time the report is submitted to the board. After
the 30 days expire, the program enforcement monitor shall submit each
written report to the department and the Legislature. The
enforcement program monitor shall make his or her reports and
the board's response to the reports available to the public
or the media. when the reports are submitted
to the department and the Legislature. The enforcement program
monitor shall make every effort to provide the board with an
opportunity throughout the entire review process to reply
to any facts, findings, issues, or conclusions
recommendations in his or her reports with which the board
may disagree.
(e) The final report shall include final findings and
recommendations on the topics addressed in the prior reports
submitted by the program enforcement monitor pursuant to subdivision
(c) and in compliance with the process described in subdivision (d).
(d)
(f) The board shall pay for all of the costs associated
with the employment of an enforcement program monitor.
(e)
(g) This section shall become inoperative on March 31,
2018, and as of January 1, 2019, is repealed.
SEC. 2. Section 2736.5 of the Business and Professions Code is
repealed.
SEC. 3. Section 2786 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
2786. (a) An approved school of nursing, or an approved nursing
program, is one that has been approved by the board, gives the course
of instruction approved by the board, covering not less than two
academic years, is affiliated or conducted in connection with one or
more hospitals, and is an institution of higher education. For
purposes of this section, "institution of higher education" includes,
but is not limited to, community colleges offering an associate of
arts or associate of science degree and private postsecondary
institutions offering an associate of arts, associate of science, or
baccalaureate degree or an entry-level master's degree, and is an
institution that is not subject to the California Private
Postsecondary Education Act of 2009 (Chapter 8 (commencing with
Section 94800) of Part 59 of Division 10 of Title 3 of the Education
Code).
(b) A school of nursing that is affiliated with an institution
that is subject to the California Private Postsecondary Education Act
of 2009 (Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 94800) of Part 59 of
Division 10 of Title 3 of the Education Code), may be approved by the
board to grant an associate of arts or associate of science degree
to individuals who graduate from the school of nursing or to grant a
baccalaureate degree in nursing with successful completion of an
additional course of study as approved by the board and the
institution involved.
(c) The board shall determine by regulation the required subjects
of instruction to be completed in an approved school of nursing for
licensure as a registered nurse and shall include the minimum units
of theory and clinical experience necessary to achieve essential
clinical competency at the entry level of the registered nurse. The
board's regulations may be designed to require all schools to provide
clinical instruction in the educational process.
(d) The board shall perform or cause to be performed an analysis
of the practice of the registered nurse no less than every five
years. Results of the analysis shall be utilized to assist in the
determination of the required subjects of instruction, validation of
the licensing examination, and assessment of the current practice of
nursing.
SEC. 4. Section 2786.1 is added to the Business and Professions
Code, to read:
2786.1. (a) The board shall deny the application for approval
made by, and shall revoke the approval given to, any school of
nursing that does not give student applicants credit in the field of
nursing for military education and experience by the use of challenge
examinations or other methods of evaluation.
(b) The board shall promulgate regulations by January 1, 2017,
requiring schools to have a process to evaluate and grant credit for
military education and experience. The word "credit," as used in the
preceding sentence, is limited to credit for licensure only. The
board is not authorized to prescribe the credit that an approved
school of nursing shall give toward an academic certificate or
degree.
(c) The board shall review a school's policies and practices
regarding granting credit for military education and experience at
least once every five years to ensure consistency in evaluation and
application across schools. The board shall post on its Internet Web
site information related to the acceptance of military coursework and
experience at each approved school.