BILL NUMBER: SB 1139	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Lara

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2016

   An act to add Section 128371 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to health professionals.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1139, as introduced, Lara. Health professionals: undocumented
immigrants: scholarships, loans, and loan repayment.
   Existing law requires the Office of Statewide Health Planning and
Development to establish a nonprofit public benefit corporation known
as the Health Professions Education Foundation to perform various
duties with respect to implementing health professions scholarship
and loan programs.
   This bill would prohibit specified programs within the foundation,
including programs which are funded by the continuously appropriated
Health Professions Education Fund, the Medically Underserved Account
for Physicians, and the Mental Health Services Fund, from denying an
application based on the citizenship status or immigration status of
the applicant.
   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 128371 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
   128371.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares that it is in the
best interest of the State of California to provide persons who are
not lawfully present in the United States with the state benefits
provided by the Health Professions Education Foundation Programs, and
therefore, enacts this section pursuant to subsection (d) of Section
1621 of Title 8 of the United States Code.
   (b) A program within the Health Professions Education Foundation
shall not deny an application based on the citizenship status or
immigration status of the applicant.
   (c) For any program within the Health Professions Education
Foundation, when mandatory disclosure of a social security number is
required, an applicant shall provide his or her social security
number, if one has been issued, or an individual tax identification
number that has been or will be submitted.
   (d) This section shall apply to all of the following:
   (1) Programs supported through the Health Professions Education
Fund pursuant to Section 128355.
   (2) The Registered Nurse Education Fund created pursuant to
Section 128400.
   (3) The Mental Health Practitioner Education Fund created pursuant
to Section 128458.
   (4) The Vocational Nurse Education Fund created pursuant to
Section 128500.
   (5) The Medically Underserved Account for Physicians created
pursuant to Section 128555.
   (6) The Steven M. Thompson Medical School Scholarship Account
created pursuant to 128580.
   (7) Loan forgiveness and scholarship programs created pursuant to
Section 5820 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.