BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 122
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Date of Hearing: June 19, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Marty Block, Chair
SB 122 (Price) - As Amended: June 12, 2012
SENATE VOTE : 30-6
SUBJECT : Healing Arts.
SUMMARY : Authorizes the Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) to
receive a fee from applicants and for renewal of a school of
nursing's authorization, requires BRN to enter into a Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) with the Bureau for Private Postsecondary
Education (Bureau) to delineate the powers of the Bureau related
to consumer protection, as specified, and makes changes
affecting the Medical Board of California and the Massage
Therapy Council. Specifically, this bill :
1)Deletes provisions requiring a school of nursing that is not
affiliated with an institution of higher education to make an
agreement with such an institution for purposes of awarding
nursing degrees and instead authorizes the BRN to grant
approval to these institutions to grant nursing degrees.
2)Requires the BRN to have an MOU with the Bureau to:
a) Ensure that nursing schools approved by the BRN are not
required to pay an additional application fee to the Bureau
for the addition of a nursing school approved by the BRN.
b) Delineate the powers of the BRN to review and approve
schools of nursing approved by the BRN, and,
c) Delineate the powers of the Bureau to protect the
interest of students attending institutions governing by
the Private Postsecondary Education (PPE) Act of 2009.
3)Subjects a school of nursing or a new nursing program seeking
approval by the BRN to the following fee schedule:
a) A fee of $5,000 for approval of a nursing program,
b) A fee of $3,500 for continuing approval of a nursing
program established after January 1, 2013, and,
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c) A fee of $500 for processing authorization of a
substantive change to an approval of a school of nursing.
4)Authorizes the BRN to issue a cease and desist order to a
school of nursing not approved by the BRN and requires the BRN
to notify the Bureau and the Attorney General of such a
school.
5)Requires meetings of the BRN to be held in northern and
southern California.
The remaining provisions, which were recently amended into this
bill, fall within the purview of the Assembly Business,
Professions, and Consumer Protection Committee, to which this
bill is double referred, and include the following:
1)Authorizes the Medical Board of California (Board) to issue a
physician and surgeon license to an applicant who successfully
completed a medical curriculum in a medical school that is not
approved or recognized by the Board or that has been
disapproved by the Board, if the applicant meets specified
requirements, except that the applicant shall have held an
unrestricted physician and surgeon license in another state or
country for a minimum of five, rather than four, years.
2)Requires an applicant for a massage therapist certificate to
successfully complete either (a) the 500 hours or the credit
unit equivalent, as specified in existing law, or (b) the
competency assessment examination, as specified in existing
law, and curricula in massage and related subjects totaling a
minimum of 250 hours, at a single approved school.
3)Requires the Massage Therapy Council (Council) to immediately
suspend the certificate of a certificate holder upon receipt
of clear and convincing evidence that the holder has committed
an act punishable as a sexually related crime or felony and to
consider any available credible mitigating evidence before
making a decision to so suspend a certificate. Grants the
holder of a certificate so suspended the right to a hearing to
be held within 30 days, and requires the Council to send
notice of suspension to the certificate holder and to other
specified businesses.
4)Authorizes a law enforcement agency or local government agency
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with responsibility for regulating massage or massage
business, upon request of the Council, to provide information
to the Council concerning an applicant or certificate holder,
including, but not limited to, information related to criminal
activity or unprofessional conduct allegedly engaged in by
that person.
5)Authorizes the Council to deny an application or discipline a
certificate holder for a conviction of a felony, misdemeanor,
infraction, or municipal code violation, or liability in an
administrative or civil action, that is substantially related
to the qualifications, functions, or duties of a certificate
holder, and requires a certificate holder to provide
identifying information, upon request, as specified.
EXISTING LAW as it pertains to the education-related provisions
of this bill:
1)Establishes the Bureau within the Department of Consumer
Affairs and provides for Bureau oversight and regulation of
California private postsecondary institutions pursuant to the
PPE Act of 2009, including a school of nursing that is not
accredited by accrediting agencies affiliated with the Western
Association of Schools and Colleges or regional accrediting
agencies recognized by the United States Department of
Education. (Education Code � 94800 et seq.)
2)Establishes numerous unfair business practices for
institutions covered by the PPE Act, including prohibiting an
institution from promising employment or otherwise overstating
the availability of jobs or making untrue or misleading
statements regarding student completion, placement or expected
salary rates. (EC � 94897)
3)Sets forth certain disclosure requirements pertaining to
completion, placement, licensure, and earning potential. (EC
� 94928)
4)Authorizes the Bureau to accept the approval provided by
another state or federal government agency for the addition of
a program of study at a Bureau-approved institution with no
further review by the Bureau. (EC � 94892)
FISCAL EFFECT : The Senate Appropriations Committee determined
the following costs to the BRN Fund for nursing school
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oversight:
1)Investigations: $50,000 in 2012-13 and $100,000 annually
therafter.
2)Cease and desist actions: $100,000-$200,000 or more in any
year.
3)Revenue: $120,000-$160,000 annually.
COMMENTS : This bill is double referred to the Assembly
Business, Professions, and Consumer Protection Committee, where
the issues pertaining the California Medical Board and Massage
Therapy Council are appropriately considered. The provisions of
this bill that fall within the Higher Education Committee's
jurisdiction affect the approval of nursing schools and the
oversight roles of the Bureau, which are the focus of this
analysis.
Background . The BRN is responsible for regulating the practice
of registered nurses in California, including implementation and
enforcement of the laws and regulations related to nursing
education, licensure, practice and discipline. In March 2011,
the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development
Committee held a sunset review hearing of the BRN, which
resulted in recommendations for improving numerous BRN
functions, including its nursing school approval process, in
order to decrease the time for approval and increase the number
of for-profit nursing schools.
Need for this bill . According to information provided by the
author, the average length of time for initial BRN approval of a
nursing school application is 18 months, but there have been
instances when the process has taken four to five years,
especially if the applicant is a for-profit institution. With
over 41,500 qualified applicants in 2009-10 and the ability of
both public and private programs to admit only about 14,200
applicants in 2009-10, the BRN must find ways to improve its
approval process so that private for-profit schools have an
equal chance of meeting the requirements to provide nursing
programs.
BRN sunset review recommendations . The BRN is responsible for
ensuring that applicants to operate a nursing school program are
in compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. The
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sunset review report recommended the BRN explore any opportunity
to streamline their current nursing program approval process,
including providing staff training to more consistently apply
rules and regulations to new programs, authorizing BRN to charge
a fee to cover its costs for approving new schools, having the
BRN assume student protection provisions currently required
under the PPE Act, and removing the involvement of the Bureau in
approving nursing schools.
The role of the Bureau and its fee . The Bureau is generally
responsible for protecting consumers and students against fraud,
misrepresentation, or other business practices at private
postsecondary institutions that may lead to loss of students'
tuition and related educational funds; establishing and
enforcing minimum standards for ethical business practices and
the health and safety and fiscal integrity of postsecondary
education institutions; and establishing and enforcing minimum
standards for instructional quality and institutional stability
for all students in all types of private postsecondary
educational and vocational institutions.
Under existing law, if a Bureau-approved institution is granted
approval to offer a program by the relevant licensing board
(such as the BRN), the Bureau may simply incorporate that
approval into the institution's approval to operate from the
Bureau after it has received documentation signifying the
approval by the relevant agency. The Bureau does not charge an
application fee in these cases. However, the institution would
include any income from the students enrolled in these programs
when calculating their annual fees owed to the Bureau. Thus,
the provision of this bill that requires the Bureau to waive its
fee for nursing school applicants under an MOU with the BRN is
unnecessary, since the Bureau already has this authority and
follows this practice.
Author's amendment . The author has agreed to accept the
following amendment to remove language pertaining to the
Bureau's authority to charge an application fee:
Page 7, line 30: ? the Bureau for Private Postsecondary
Education to ensure that institutions approved by the bureau are
not required to pay an additional application fee to the bureau
for the addition of a school of nursing approved by the board,
and to delineate the powers of ?
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Prior legislation . SB 538 (Price) of 2011, granted the BRN
authority to be the only agency responsible for approving
schools of nursing and to receive an appropriate fee from
applicants; however, provisions related to the Bureau's ability
to charge a fee were removed. The bill was vetoed for reasons
unrelated to these provisions.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California School Nurses Organization
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Sandra Fried / HIGHER ED. / (916)
319-3960