BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 122
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Date of Hearing: August 8, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 122 (Price) - As Amended: July 2, 2012
Policy Committee: Business and
Professions Vote: 9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill makes a number of changes to law pertaining to the
California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) and the California
Massage Therapy Council (CAMTC). These changes include:
1)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.
c) A fee of $500 for processing authorization of a
substantive change to an approval of a school of nursing.
2)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.
3)Requires the BRN to issue a cease and desist order to a school
of nursing not approved by the BRN and to notify the BPPE and
the Attorney General of such a school. Makes it
unprofessional conduct for any registered nurse (RN) to
violate or attempt to violate or to assist or abet the
violation of this provision.
4)Requires meetings of the BRN to be held in northern and
southern California.
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5)Requires the BRN to have a memorandum of understanding with
the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE) to
delineate the powers of the BRN and the BPPE as related to
schools of nursing and the powers of the BPPE to protect the
interest of students attending institutions governed by the
Private Postsecondary Education (PPE) Act of 2009.
6)Authorizes a law enforcement agency or local government agency
with responsibility for regulating massage or massage
business, upon request of the CAMTC, to provide information to
the CAMTC concerning an applicant or certificate holder,
7)Allows the CAMTC 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.
8)Provides the holder of a suspended certificate the right to a
hearing within 30 days, and requires the CAMTC to
notification, as specified.
9)Specifies that business license fees charged to a massage
business or establishment can be no higher than the lowest fee
that is applied to other individuals and businesses providing
professional services, as specified.
10)Numerous other minor provisions related to massage therapy
educational requirements, standards for certification, and
enforcement of law and standards by local jurisdictions, law
enforcement, and CAMTC.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)One-time IT costs of $10,000 to the BRN to begin collecting
nursing program approval and renewal fee revenue.
2)Increased workload related to approval and regulation of
nursing schools of $100,000 annually, offset by increased
revenue in the same amount to the BRN special fund.
3)Potential increased staff costs to the Department of Justice
of $80,000 (charged to the BRN special fund) for approximately
0.5 Deputy Attorney Generals to enforce or defend the BRN's
ability to issue cease and desist letters. These costs can
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vary depending upon the number and complexity of cases.
4)Potential minor, absorbable increased enforcement costs to
CAMTC.
COMMENTS
Rationale . The author indicates recent legislative sunset review
of BRN activities has highlighted the need for improvements to
the nursing school approval process. He believes that the
following changes will provide improvements to the BRN's nursing
school approval process by: (1) Granting complete authority over
the approval of nursing schools to the BRN rather than requiring
a duplicative process under the BPPE, and to offset costs of the
BRN in both approving and regulating nursing schools; and (2)
Providing the BRN with the ability to issue a cease and desist
order to a school of nursing which has not been approved (or has
been disapproved) by the BRN and requiring the BRN to inform the
Attorney General of a school which continues to operate
illegally. The measure will also make some other clarifying and
technical changes regarding the nursing school approval process
and to meetings of the BRN.
The author indicates the CAMTC is the sponsor of the massage
therapy-related provisions. Many of these changes are based on
requests from cities to toughen or clarify statute related to
law enforcement, such as authorizing law enforcement or a local
government agency to provide information to CAMTC regarding a
certificate holder or applicant.
Analysis Prepared by : Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081