BILL NUMBER: AB 1975 CHAPTERED 09/08/00 CHAPTER 356 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 8, 2000 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 7, 2000 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 24, 2000 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 22, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 18, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 19, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 12, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 23, 2000 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Romero and Lowenthal (Coauthors: Assembly Members Alquist, Aroner, Calderon, Cedillo, Correa, Hertzberg, Keeley, Knox, Longville, Nakano, Reyes, Shelley, Steinberg, Strom-Martin, Vincent, and Washington) (Coauthor: Senator Solis) FEBRUARY 18, 2000 An act to amend Section 1277 of the Health and Safety Code, and to amend Section 5068.5 of the Penal Code, relating to professional licensure requirements, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1975, Romero. Professional personnel: psychologists: waiver of licensure. Existing law requires that the licensure requirements for professional personnel, including psychologists, clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists, among others, in state and other governmental health facilities, be not less than for those in privately owned health facilities. The State Department of Health Services is authorized to grant a waiver from licensure requirements for persons employed in publicly operated health facilities who are gaining qualifying experience for licensure. The waiver cannot exceed 2 years from the commencement of employment in the state in the case of psychologists or 4 years for marriage and family therapists or clinical social workers, with one additional year to be granted under extenuating circumstances, as specified. This bill would extend the durational limit of the department's waiver of licensure requirements to 3 years for psychologists and would delete the authority to extend the waiver of licensure for psychologists for one additional year. This bill would conform the requirements for licensed professionals providing services in the state correctional system to those applicable to professional personnel in other state and governmental health facilities, as specified. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 1277 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 1277. (a) No license shall be issued by the state department unless it finds that the premises, the management, the bylaws, rules and regulations, the equipment, the staffing, both professional and nonprofessional, and the standards of care and services are adequate and appropriate, and that the health facility is operated in the manner required by this chapter and by the rules and regulations adopted hereunder. (b) Notwithstanding any provision of Part 2 (commencing with Section 5600) of Division 5 of, or Division 7 (commencing with Section 7100) of, the Welfare and Institutions Code or any other law to the contrary, except Sections 2072 and 2073 of the Business and Professions Code, the licensure requirements for professional personnel, including, but not limited to, physicians and surgeons, dentists, podiatrists, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, pharmacists, registered nurses, and clinical social workers in the state and other governmental health facilities licensed by the state department shall not be less than for those professional personnel in health facilities under private ownership. Persons employed as psychologists and clinical social workers, while continuing in their employment in the same class as of January 1, 1979, in the same state or other governmental health facility licensed by the state department, including those persons on authorized leave, but not including intermittent personnel, shall be exempt from the requirements of this subdivision. Additionally, the requirements of this subdivision may be waived by the state department solely for persons in the professions of psychology, marriage and family therapy or clinical social work who are gaining qualifying experience for licensure in such profession in this state. A waiver granted pursuant to this subdivision shall not exceed three years from the date the employment commences in this state in the case of psychologists, or four years from commencement of the employment in this state in the case of marriage and family therapists and clinical social workers, at which time licensure shall have been obtained or the employment shall be terminated except that an extension of a waiver of licensure for marriage and family therapists and clinical social workers may be granted for one additional year, based on extenuating circumstances determined by the department pursuant to subdivision (e). For persons employed as psychologists, clinical social workers, or marriage and family therapists less than full time, an extension of a waiver of licensure may be granted for additional years proportional to the extent of part-time employment, as long as the person is employed without interruption in service, but in no case shall the waiver of licensure exceed six years in the case of clinical social workers and marriage and family therapists or five years in the case of psychologists. However, this durational limitation upon waivers shall not apply to active candidates for a doctoral degree in social work, social welfare, or social science, who are enrolled at an accredited university, college, or professional school, but these limitations shall apply following completion of this training. Additionally, this durational limitation upon waivers shall not apply to active candidates for a doctoral degree in marriage and family therapy who are enrolled at a school, college, or university, specified in subdivision (a) of Section 4980.40 of the Business and Professions Code, but the limitations shall apply following completion of the training. A waiver pursuant to this subdivision shall be granted only to the extent necessary to qualify for licensure, except that personnel recruited for employment from outside this state and whose experience is sufficient to gain admission to a licensing examination shall nevertheless have one year from the date of their employment in California to become licensed, at which time licensure shall have been obtained or the employment shall be terminated, provided that the employee shall take the licensure examination at the earliest possible date after the date of his or her employment, and if the employee does not pass the examination at that time, he or she shall have a second opportunity to pass the next possible examination, subject to the one-year limit for marriage and family therapists and clinical social workers, and subject to a two-year limit for psychologists. (c) A special permit shall be issued by the state department when it finds that the staff, both professional and nonprofessional, and the standards of care and services are adequate and appropriate, and that the special services unit is operated in the manner required in this chapter and by the rules and regulations adopted hereunder. (d) The state department shall apply the same standards to state and other governmental health facilities that it licenses as it applies to health facilities in private ownership, including standards specifying the level of training and supervision of all unlicensed practitioners. Except for psychologists, the department may grant an extension of a waiver of licensure for personnel recruited from outside this state for one additional year, based upon extenuating circumstances as determined by the department pursuant to subdivision (e). (e) The department shall grant a request for an extension of a waiver based on extenuating circumstances, pursuant to subdivisions (b) and (d), if any of the following circumstances exist: (1) The person requesting the extension has experienced a recent catastrophic event which may impair the person's ability to qualify for and pass the license examination. Those events may include, but are not limited to, significant hardship caused by a natural disaster, serious and prolonged illness of the person, serious and prolonged illness or death of a child, spouse, or parent, or other stressful circumstances. (2) The person requesting the extension has difficulty speaking or writing the English language, or other cultural and ethnic factors exist which substantially impair the person's ability to qualify for and pass the license examination. (3) The person requesting the extension has experienced other personal hardship which the department, in its discretion, determines to warrant the extension. SEC. 2. Section 5068.5 of the Penal Code is amended to read: 5068.5. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, except as provided in subdivision (b), any person employed or under contract to provide diagnostic, treatment, or other mental health services in the state or to supervise or provide consultation on these services in the state correctional system shall be a physician and surgeon, a psychologist, or other health professional, licensed to practice in this state. (b) Notwithstanding Section 5068 or Section 704 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, the following persons are exempt from the requirements of subdivision (a), so long as they continue in employment in the same class and in the same department: (1) Persons employed on January 1, 1985, as psychologists to provide diagnostic or treatment services including those persons on authorized leave but not including intermittent personnel. (2) Persons employed on January 1, 1989, to supervise or provide consultation on the diagnostic or treatment services including persons on authorized leave but not including intermittent personnel. (c) The requirements of subdivision (a) may be waived in order for a person to gain qualifying experience for licensure as a psychologist or clinical social worker in this state in accordance with Section 1277 of the Health and Safety Code. SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to prevent the termination of employment of psychologists who are currently employed by the Department of Corrections under a two-year licensure waiver, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.