BILL NUMBER: AB 1976 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 11, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 29, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Logue
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Pan)
( Coauthors: Assembly Members
Bill Berryhill and Jeffries )
FEBRUARY 23, 2012
An act to add Section 712 to the Business and Professions Code,
and to add Section 131136 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to
professions and vocations.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1976, as amended, Logue. Professions and vocations: licensure
and certification requirements: military experience.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various
healing arts professions and vocations by boards within the
Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law requires the rules and
regulations of these healing arts boards to provide for methods of
evaluating education, training, and experience obtained in military
service if such training is applicable to the requirements of the
particular profession or vocation regulated by the board. Under
existing law, specified other healing arts professions are licensed
or certified and regulated by the State Department of Public Health.
In some instances, a board with the Department of Consumer Affairs or
the State Department of Public Health approves schools offering
educational course credit for meeting licensing or certification
qualifications and requirements.
This bill would require a healing arts board within the Department
of Consumer Affairs and the State Department of Public Health, upon
the presentation of evidence by an applicant for licensure or
certification, to , except as specified, accept education,
training, and practical experience completed by an applicant in
military service toward the qualifications and requirements to
receive a license or certificate. If a board or the State Department
of Public Health accredits or otherwise approves schools offering
educational course credit for meeting licensing and certification
qualifications and requirements, the bill would, not later than July
1, 2014, require a board or the State Department of Public
Health to accredit or otherwise approve only those schools
that seeking accreditation or approval to
have procedures in place to accept an applicant's military
education, training, and practical experience toward the completion
of an educational program that would qualify a person to apply for
licensure or certification. The bill would require each board
and the State Department of Public Health to determine whether it is
necessary to adopt regulations to implement these provisions and if
so, would require those regulations to be adopted not later than
January 1, 2014. If a board or the State Department of Public Health
determines that such regulations are not necessary, the bill would
require a report with an explanation regarding that determination to
be submitted to the Governor and the Legislature not later than
January 1, 2014. The bill would require the Director of
Consumer Affairs and the State Department of Public Health, by
January 1, 2016, to submit to the Governor and the Legislature a
written report on the progress of the boards and the department in
complying with these provisions.
Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, sets forth the
requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and
implementation of regulations by state agencies. The act may not be
superseded or modified by any subsequent legislation except to the
extent that the legislation does so expressly.
This bill would require each healing arts board within the
Department of Consumer Affairs and the State Department of Public
Health to adopt emergency regulations pursuant to specified
procedures to carry out these provisions.
Under existing law, the Department of Veterans Affairs has
specified powers and duties relating to various programs serving
veterans.
With respect to complying with the bill's requirements and
obtaining specified funds to support compliance with these provisions
, this bill would require the Department of Veterans Affairs
to provide technical assistance to the healing arts boards within the
Department of Consumer Affairs, the Director of Consumer Affairs,
and the State Department of Public Health.
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. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the
Veterans Health Care Workforce Act of 2012.
SEC. 2. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) Lack of health care providers continues to be a significant
barrier to access to health care services in medically underserved
urban and rural areas of California.
(2) Veterans of the United States Armed Forces and the California
National Guard gain invaluable education, training, and practical
experience through their military service.
(3) According to the federal Department of Defense, as of June
2011, one million veterans were unemployed nationally and the jobless
rate for post-9/11 veterans was 13.3 percent, with young male
veterans 18 to 24 years of age experiencing an unemployment rate of
21.9 percent.
(4) According to the federal Department of Defense, during the
2011 federal fiscal year, 8,854 enlisted service members with medical
classifications separated from active duty.
(5) According to the federal Department of Defense, during the
2011 federal fiscal year, 16,777 service members who separated from
active duty listed California as their state of residence.
(6) It is critical, both to veterans seeking to transition to
civilian health care professions and to patients living in
underserved urban and rural areas of California, that the Legislature
ensures that veteran applicants to boards within the Department of
Consumer Affairs or the State Department of Public Health for
licensure are expedited through the qualifications and requirements
process.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that boards
within the Department of Consumer Affairs or
and the State Department of Public Health and schools offering
educational course credit for meeting licensing qualifications and
requirements fully and expeditiously recognize and provide credit for
an applicant's military education, training, and practical
experience.
SEC. 3. Section 712 is added to the Business and Professions Code,
to read:
712. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a board
described in this division shall, upon the presentation of
satisfactory evidence by an applicant for licensure, accept the
education, training, and practical experience completed by an
applicant as a member of the United States Armed Forces or Military
Reserves of the United States, the national guard of any state, the
military reserves of any state, or the naval militia of any state,
toward the qualifications and requirements to receive a license
issued by that board unless the board determines that the
education, training, or practical experience is not substantially
equivalent to the standards of the board .
(b) Not later than July 1, 2014, if a board described in this
division accredits or otherwise approves schools offering educational
course credit for meeting licensing qualifications and requirements,
the board shall only accredit or otherwise approve
require those schools that
seeking accreditation or approval to have procedures in
place to fully accept an applicant's military education, training,
and practical experience toward the completion of an educational
program that would qualify a person to apply for licensure.
(c) (1) Each board described in this
division shall determine whether it is necessary to adopt
regulations to implement this section. The adoption,
amendment, repeal, or readoption of a regulation authorized by this
section is deemed to address an emergency, for purposes of Sections
11346.1 and 11349.6 of the Government Code, and each board is hereby
exempted for this purpose from the requirements of subdivision (b) of
Section 11346.1 of the Government Code.
(2) If a board determines it is necessary to adopt regulations,
the board shall adopt those regulations not later than January 1,
2014.
(3) If a board determines it is not necessary to adopt
regulations, the board shall, not later than January 1, 2014, submit
to the Governor and the Legislature a written report explaining why
such regulations are not necessary. This paragraph shall become
inoperative on January 1, 2017.
(d) With respect to complying with the requirements of this
section including the determination of substantial equivalency
between the education, training, or practical experience of an
applicant and the board's standards, and obtaining state, federal, or
private funds to support compliance with this section , the
Department of Veterans Affairs shall provide technical assistance to
the boards described in this division and to the director.
(e) (1) On or before January 1, 2016, the
director shall submit to the Governor and the Legislature a written
report on the progress of the boards described in this division
toward compliance with this section.
(2) This subdivision shall become inoperative on January 1, 2017.
(f) A report to the Legislature pursuant to this section shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(g) This section shall become inoperative on January 1, 2017.
SEC. 4. Section 131136 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
131136. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
department shall, upon the presentation of satisfactory evidence by
an applicant for licensure or certification in one of the professions
described in subdivision (b), accept the education, training, and
practical experience completed by an applicant as a member of the
United States Armed Forces or Military Reserves of the United States,
the national guard of any state, the military reserves of any state,
or the naval militia of any state, toward the qualifications and
requirements to receive a license issued by the department
unless the department determines that the education, training, or
practical experience is not substantially equivalent to the standards
of the department .
(b) The following professions are applicable to this section:
(1) Medical laboratory technician as described in Section 1260.3
of the Business and Professions Code.
(2) Clinical laboratory scientist as described in Section 1262 of
the Business and Professions Code.
(3) Radiologic technologist as described in Chapter 6 (commencing
with Section 114840) of Part 9 of Division 104.
(4) Nuclear medicine technologist as described in Chapter 4
(commencing with Section 107150) of Part 1 of Division 104.
(5) Certified nurse assistant as described in Article 9
(commencing with Section 1337) of Chapter 2 of Division 2.
(6) Certified home health aide as described in Section 1736.1.
(7) Certified hemodialysis technician as described in Article 3.5
(commencing with Section 1247) of Chapter 3 of Division 2 of the
Business and Professions Code.
(8) Nursing home administrator as described in Chapter 2.35
(commencing with Section 1416) of Division 2.
(c) Not later than July 1, 2014, if the department accredits or
otherwise approves schools offering educational course credit for
meeting licensing and certification qualifications and requirements,
the department shall only accredit or otherwise approve
require those schools that
seeking accreditation or approval to have procedures in
place to fully accept an applicant's military education, training,
and practical experience toward the completion of an educational
program that would qualify a person to apply for licensure or
certification.
(d) With respect to complying with the requirements of
this section, the (1) Not later
than January 1, 2014, the department shall determine
whether it is necessary to adopt regulations to implement this
section. The adoption, amendment, repeal, or readoption of a
regulation authorized by this section is deemed to address an
emergency, for purposes of Sections 11346.1 and 11349.6 of the
Government Code, and the department is hereby exempted for this
purpose from the requirements of subdivision (b) of Section 11346.1
of the Government Code .
(2) If the department determines it is necessary to adopt
regulations, the department shall adopt those regulations not later
than January 1, 2014.
(3) If the department determines it is not necessary to adopt
regulations, the department shall, not later than January 1, 2014,
submit to the Governor and the Legislature a written report
explaining why such regulations are not necessary. This paragraph
shall become inoperative on January 1, 2017.
(e) With respect to complying with the requirements of this
section including the determination of substantial equivalency
between the education, training, or practical experience of an
applicant and the department's standards, and obtaining state,
federal, or private funds to support compliance with this section
, the Department of Veterans Affairs shall provide technical
assistance to the department and to the State Public Health Officer.
(f) (1) On or before January 1, 2016, the
department shall submit to the Governor and the Legislature a written
report on the department's progress toward compliance with this
section.
(2) This subdivision shall become inoperative on January 1, 2017.
(g) A report to the Legislature pursuant to this section shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(h) This section shall become inoperative on January 1, 2017.