BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 245|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 245
Author: Ma (D)
Amended: 7/1/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMM. : 10-0, 6/29/09
AYES: Negrete McLeod, Wyland, Aanestad, Corbett, Correa,
Florez, Oropeza, Romero, Walters, Yee
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-1, 06/02/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Physicians and surgeons
SOURCE : American Federation of State, County and
Municipal
Employees
Union of American Physicians and Dentists
DIGEST : This bill requires the Medical Board of
California (MBC) to remove an expunged or misdemeanor or
felony conviction posted on MBC's Internet website within
90 days of receiving a copy of the expungement order from
the licensee.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
CONTINUED
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1. Establishes the MBC to license, regulate and discipline
physicians and surgeons in California. States that the
protection of the public is the highest priority of the
MBC in exercising its functions.
2. Requires the MBC, along with other specified health care
licensing boards, to create and maintain a central file
of the names of all persons who hold a license,
certificate, or similar authority. Requires the central
file to be created and maintained to provide an
individual historical record for each licensee and must
include specified information including the following:
any conviction of a crime, any judgment or settlement in
excess of $3,000, any public complaints as specified,
and any disciplinary information, as specified.
3. States that the content of the central file that is not
public record under any other provision of law is
confidential and allows a licensee to submit any
exculpatory or explanatory statements or other
information to be included in the central file.
4. Requires the MBC to post on the Internet specified
information regarding licensed physicians, including
information relating to the following:
A. Status of a license, whether or not a licensee is
in good standing, as specified.
B. Prior discipline, as specified.
C. Any felony convictions reported to the MBC after
January 3, 1991.
D. All current accusations filed by the Attorney
General.
E. Any malpractice judgment or arbitration award
reported to the MBC on or after January 1, 1993.
F. Any hospital disciplinary actions that resulted in
the termination or revocation of a licensee's
hospital staff privileges for a medical disciplinary
cause or reason.
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G. Any misdemeanor conviction that results in a
disciplinary action or an accusation that is not
subsequently withdrawn or dismissed.
H. Appropriate disclaimers and explanatory statements
to accompany the above information, including an
explanation of what types of information are not
disclosed.
5. States that the disclaimers and statements be developed
by the MBC and adopted by regulation.
6. Any enforcement action taken against a licensee
including temporary restraining orders, interim
suspension orders, civil judgments and all settlements.
7. Specifies what information may be posted on MBC's
Internet website for a period of 10 years, including all
information on the status of a license.
8. States that information relating to all felony
convictions and any hospital disciplinary actions that
resulted in the termination or revocation of a
licensee's hospital staff privileges for a medical
disciplinary cause or reason shall not be removed from
postage on MBC's Internet website.
9. Requires the MBC to provide links to other websites on
the Internet that provide information on MBC
certification, as specified.
This bill requires the MBC to remove an expunged
misdemeanor or felony conviction posted on the Internet
within 90 days of receiving a copy of the expungement order
from the licensee.
Background
Posting of information on the MBC Internet website .
Current law requires the MBC to post certain information on
physicians and surgeons on its Internet website. The
information that must be posted will include status of a
license, whether or not a licensee is in good standing,
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prior discipline, any felony convictions reported to the
MBC after January 3, 1991, all current accusations filed by
the Attorney General, any malpractice judgment or
arbitration award reported to the MBC on January 1, 1993,
any hospital disciplinary actions that resulted in the
termination or revocation of a licensee's hospital staff
privileges for a medical disciplinary cause or reason, any
misdemeanor conviction that results in a disciplinary
action or an accusation that is not subsequently withdrawn
or dismissed. Any enforcement action taken against a
licensee including temporary restraining orders, interim
suspension orders, civil judgments and all settlements.
Most of this information that is required to be disclosed
are posted on the Internet website for a period of 10
years. Existing law requires MBC to post appropriate
disclaimers and explanatory statements to accompany the
above information, including an explanation of what types
of information are not disclosed.
Expungement of records . The Penal Code allows misdemeanor
and felony convictions to be expunged if the defendant was
only given a sentence of probation, rather than state
imprisonment. Under the Penal Code, if a defendant has
fulfilled the conditions of probation, or has been
discharged from probation, and if the court determines that
a relief should be granted, the defendant at any time after
the termination of the period of probation, if he or she is
not serving a sentence for any offense, as specified, is
authorized to withdraw his/her plea of guilty or plea of
nolo contendere and enter a plea of not guilty. In such
instance, the court sets aside the verdict of guilty and
dismisses the accusations or information against the
defendant and releases the defendant from all penalties and
disabilities resulting from the offense of which he/she has
been convicted. The MBC asserts that they do remove
expunged misdemeanor or felony convictions upon
notification and verification.
Related Legislation
SB 700 (Negrete McLeod), among other provisions, prohibits
disclosure by certain health care regulatory bodies of any
summaries of hospital disciplinary actions that result in
the termination or revocation of a licensee's staff
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privileges for medical disciplinary cause or reason if a
court finds that the peer review resulting in the
disciplinary action was conducted in bad faith and the
licensee notifies the board of such finding.
SB 58 (Aanestad), among other provisions, makes changes to
information that are publicly disclosed regarding licensing
and enforcement actions against physicians and surgeons.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/21/09)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees (co-source)
Union of American Physicians and Dentists (co-source)
OPPOSITION : (Verified 7/21/09)
Department of Consumer Affairs
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
the disclosure of information by the MBC to the general
public regarding physician conduct is an important public
safeguard. However, the MBC often publishes information
that is inaccurate such as criminal misdemeanors or felony
convictions that have been legally expunged. Continuous
publication of such information can be economically
disastrous for a physician and can disrupt the successful
delivery of health care services.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Department of Consumer
Affairs states: "The Department believes that if a crime
is relevant to a physician's practice of medicine or to
their character as a person, then the general public should
be allowed to view a record of that crime when deciding
whether to become a patient of that physician. This bill
would unfairly deny consumers the right to that knowledge.
This bill relies too heavily on the expungement of a
conviction, which is not necessarily an indication of
rehabilitation."
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield, Brownley, Buchanan,
Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway,
Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Duvall,
Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber,
Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava,
Nestande, Niello, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NOES: Nielsen
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bill Berryhill, Block, DeVore
JJA:mw 7/21/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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