BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1478
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SENATE THIRD READING
SB
1478 (Committee on Business, Professions and Economic
Development)
As Introduced March 10, 2016
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 38-0
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Business & |16-0 |Salas, Brough, Baker, | |
|Professions | |Bloom, Campos, | |
| | |Chávez, Dahle, Dodd, | |
| | |Eggman, Gatto, Gomez, | |
| | |Holden, Jones, | |
| | |Mullin, Ting, Wood | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |18-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonta, | |
| | |Calderon, Chang, | |
| | |Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Roger Hernández, | |
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| | |Holden, Jones, | |
| | |Obernolte, Quirk, | |
| | |Santiago, Wagner, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Makes numerous minor, technical, or non-substantive
changes to various provisions pertaining to the health-related
regulatory boards of the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA).
Specifically, this bill:
1)Makes the following changes related to the Dental Board of
California (DBC) and the dental practice act:
a) Reflects the integration of the National Board Dental
Examination of the Joint Commission on National Dental
Examinations (Joint Commission) from two parts to one.
2)Makes the following changes related to the Medical Board of
California (MBC) and the practice act:
a) Deletes obsolete language pertaining to an inoperative
task force.
b) Deletes an obsolete reference to complaint retention for
licensees.
c) Deletes obsolete language pertaining to the inoperative
Bureau of Medical Statistics.
3)Requires the Board of Podiatric Medicine (BPM) to elect a
secretary in addition to a president and vice president.
4)Makes the following changes related to the Board of Behavioral
Sciences (BBS) and the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
(LMFT), Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and Licensed
Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) practice acts.
a) Replaces the titles "marriage and family therapist
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intern" or "marriage and family therapist registered
intern" with the titles "associate marriage and family
therapist" or "registered associate marriage and family
therapist" beginning January 1, 2018.
b) Deletes an obsolete reference pertaining to school
approval.
c) Clarifies that social worker, marriage and family, and
professional clinical counselor interns, trainees, or
associates may not gain supervised experience while
employed as independent contractors, as specified.
d) Replaces the term "associate social worker" with
associate clinical social worker.
e) Prohibits LCSW applicants from taking only the clinical
examination until the school has obtained accreditation, as
specified.
f) Expands the approved accreditation agencies, as
specified.
g) Replaces the titles "professional clinical counselor
intern" or "professional clinical counselor registered
intern" with the titles "associate professional clinical
counselor" or registered associate professional clinical
counselor" beginning January 1, 2018.
h) Requires applicants for licensure or registration as a
professional clinical counselor to submit to the BBS a
certification from the applicant's educational institution
that the institution's required curriculum for graduation
and any associated coursework meet specified curriculum
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requirements.
i) Deletes an obsolete reference to a grandfathering
provision for licensure as an LPCC.
5)Makes numerous other technical and clarifying amendments.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, any fiscal impact to the DCA and affected boards is
expected to be minor and absorbable.
COMMENTS:
Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the author. According to
the author, "this bill is one of two "committee bills" authored
by the [Senate Committee on Business, Professions and Economic
Development] and is intended to consolidate a number of
non-controversial provisions related to various regulatory
programs and professions governed by the Business and Profession
Code (BPC). Consolidating the provisions in one bill is
designed to relieve the various licensing boards, bureaus,
professions, and other regulatory agencies from the necessity
and burden of having separate measures for a number of
non-controversial revisions. Many of the provisions of this
bill are minor, technical, and updating changes, while other
provisions are substantive changes intended to improve the
ability of various licensing programs and other entities to
efficiently and effectively administer their respective laws.
However, as a Committee bill, if controversy or opposition
should arise regarding any provision that cannot be resolved,
then that provision will be removed from the bill. This will
eliminate the chance of placing any of the other provisions in
jeopardy."
Background. Dental Board of California. The DBC is responsible
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for the licensure and regulation of licensed dental health
professionals, which includes dentists, registered dental
assistants, and registered dental assistants in extended
functions. BPC Section 1632(a) specifies that applicants for
licensure as a dentist must successfully complete the Part I and
Part II written examinations of the National Board Dental
Examination of the Joint Commission. As noted by the author, in
2017, the Joint Commission will be integrating the two-part
examination into one singular examination. The changes in this
bill reflect the integration of the examinations into one
examination.
Medical Board of California. AB 2394 (Firebuagh), Chapter 802,
Statues of 2000, established a Task Force on Culturally and
Linguistically Competent Physicians and Dentists, chaired by the
Director of the DCA. The task force was required to report to
the Legislature and the respective licensing boards within two
years after its establishment. The task force released its
report to the Legislature as required by AB 2394 in 2003.
According to the author, the task force has not been active
since 2003. This bill deletes BPC Section 852 pertaining to the
establishment of the inactive task force.
BPC Section 2029 requires the MBC to keep a copy of a complaint
received regarding poor quality of care rendered by a licensee
for 10 years from the date the MBC received the complaint.
Currently, the MBC follows the provisions of BPC Sections of
2227.5 which requires the MBC to keep a copy of a complaint it
receives concerning the unprofessional conduct of a licensee for
seven years or until the statute of limitations for filing an
accusation against a licensee has expired, whichever period is
shorter, if the MBC finds after an investigation that there is
insufficient evidence to proceed with disciplinary action. The
author notes that this provision, along with the statute
pertaining to the time limit for filing an accusation (BPC
Section 2230.5), renders BPC Section 2029 inoperative;
therefore, this bill deletes BPC Section 2029.
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The Bureau of Medical Statistics under the MBC was enacted in
1980. Currently, the MBC is responsible for collecting medical
statistics and the bureau is no longer active. This bill
deletes obsolete language pertaining to the Bureau of Medical
Statistics.
Board of Podiatric Medicine. BPC Section 2467 requires the BPM
to annually elect a president and a vice president of its board;
this bill will require the BPM to additionally elect a
secretary. The author notes that the BPM requested the
additional elected board position.
Board of Behavioral Sciences. The BBS licenses and regulates
LCSWs, LMFTs, LEPs, and LPCCs. Additionally, the BBS registers
Associate Clinical Social Workers (ACSW), Marriage and Family
Therapist Interns (MFT Interns), Professional Clinical Counselor
Intern (PCC Interns), and until June 30, 2015, registered
continuing education (CE) providers. Each profession has its
own scope of practice, entry-level requirements, and
professional settings, with some overlap in certain areas.
Below are a few examples of settings in which licensees may
work; however, licensees may work in other settings that
lawfully provide mental health services.
Current law requires applicants for licensure as LMFT, LCSW, and
LPCC to obtain supervised hours of experience in order to
qualify for licensure. LMFT, LCSW, and LPCC applicants are
permitted to obtain experience hours as a volunteer or an
employee, but BPC Sections 4980.43 and 4999.47 specifically
prohibit applicants for LMFT and LPCC from gaining experience
while employed as an independent contractor. This bill further
clarifies that associates, trainees or interns employed as
independent contractors may not gain experience for work
performed as an independent contractor or employed as an
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independent contractor.
SB 704 (Negrete McLeod), Chapter 387, Statutes of 2011,
restructured the examination process for LMFTs, LCSWs, and
LPCCs. That bill established new requirements for licensure and
registration which included a provision that applicants must
take and pass both a California law and ethics examination and a
clinical examination as prescribed by the BBS. Those changes
also required that beginning January 1, 2016, in order to renew
registration as an ACSW, an individual must take and pass the
California law and ethics examination. However, under current
law, BPC Section 4996.18 specifies that a LCSW applicant is not
eligible to take any examination until his or her school or
department of social work has received accreditation by the
Commission. Without the changes proposed by this bill, an
individual may not be able to take the California and law and
ethics examination rendering the applicant ineligible for
renewal.
According to information from the BBS, the purpose of BPC
Section 4996.18 was to prohibit an LCSW applicant from obtaining
licensure until the applicant's school or department of social
work obtained accreditation from the Commission. However, as a
result of SB 704, the new examination requirements will be
implemented January 1, 2016. After this date, in order to renew
an ACSW registration, an applicant must take and pass the law
and ethics examination. Previously, both required examinations
were taken at the end of acquiring hours and upon meeting
educational accreditation standards. Since accrediting a school
can takes several years, the current law could cause a first
year associate to be unable to take the California law and
ethics examination, and consequently, be unable to renew his or
her registration. This bill makes conforming changes to allow
applicants for LCSW to take the law and ethics examination while
their school or department of social work is waiting for
accreditation, in order to meet new examination requirements for
registered as ACSWs.
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SB 788 (Wyland), Chapter 619, Statutes of 2009, established the
LPCC Act. BPC Section 4999.54 was enacted to establish a
grandfathering provision at the beginning of the LPCC licensure
program. At that time the BBS accepted specified applications
for licensure under the grandfathering provisions between
January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. Although the application
period ended five years ago, the provision remained to allow
those applicants to remediate missing coursework requirements.
The remediation period has since ended and this bill will delete
now obsolete references to the grandfathering provisions.
Persons seeking licensure as an LMFT, LCSW, and LPCC must first
register with the BBS and obtain hours of supervised experience.
According to the author, Registrants gaining supervised
experience hours toward an LMFT or LPCC license are referred to
as "interns" throughout applicable code. Stakeholders and
registrants have voiced concerns that the "intern" title for
LMFT and LPCC registrants may not be an accurate representation
of their post-master's degree graduate status. Registrants
gaining experience hours toward an LCSW license are referred to
as "associates." This bill would change reference from "intern"
to "associate" for LMFT and LPCC applicants to create
consistency in the titles used by the BBS and remedy a common
misconception that LMFT and LPCC interns have not yet graduated.
Analysis Prepared by:
Elissa Silva / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301 FN:
0003577
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