Health workforce development.

Existing law requires the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development within the California Health and Human Services Agency to, among other things, (1) develop a Health Manpower Plan for California that consists of, among other things, appropriate standards for determining the adequacy of supply of specified health personnel, (2) maintain a Health Professions Career Opportunity Program that includes supporting and encouraging minority health professionals in training to practice in health professional shortage areas, and (3) establish a health care workforce clearinghouse to serve as the central source of health care workforce and educational data in the state. Existing law, the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act, creates the California Healthcare Workforce Policy Commission to, among other things, identify specific areas of the state where unmet priority needs for primary care family physicians and registered nurses exist. Existing law establishes the California Workforce Investment Board within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to assist the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system. This bill would require, until January 1, 2019, the California Workforce Investment Board to establish the Health Workforce Development Council to help expand California's health workforce in order to provide access to quality health care for all Californians. The bill would require the council to perform certain duties, including seeking expertise from multisector representatives to enhance the understanding of the issues and policies needed to ensure that California has the necessary workforce to provide access to quality, and culturally and linguistically appropriate, health care, as specified. The bill would require the council to inform the Legislature of its health initiatives and progress, as specified. Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of persons who engage in clinical laboratory practice, conduct radiologic technology, and perform nuclear medicine technology, as defined, by the State Department of Public Health, and makes a violation of those provisions a crime. This bill would require every person described above to report to the department, upon issuance and renewal of his or her license, certificate, or permit, his or her practice status, as specified, and, unless the licensee declines to state them, his or her cultural background and foreign language proficiency. This bill would exempt the failure to report this information from those criminal provisions. This bill would require the department to collect the information as provided under those provisions, and authorize the department to aggregate and post this information on the department's Internet Web site.