Vocational nursing: secondary and post-secondary education.

Existing law, the Vocational Nursing Practice Act, establishes the Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians and sets forth the qualification requirements and duties of members of the board. These duties include, protection of the public, the evaluation of applicants for licensing as a vocational nurse, and the issuing of licenses to practice as a vocational nurse. Existing law requires the board to prepare and maintain a list of approved schools of vocational nursing in the state. This bill would state that the board has the sole responsibility to assess and recommend approval for schools of vocational nursing and psychiatric technician education programs in the state. The bill would require the board to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education to delineate the powers of the board to review and approve schools of vocational nursing and psychiatric technicians and the powers of the bureau to protect the interest of students attending institutions governed by the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009. The bill would subject all approved schools of vocational nursing to specified fees for deposit into the Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians Fund. The bill would specify that only a nursing school approved by the board may accept applications to its vocational nursing and psychiatric technician program and would make is unlawful for anyone to conduct a school of vocational nursing and psychiatric technicians unless the school has been approved by the board. The bill would also deem it "unprofessional conduct" for a registered nurse, vocational nurse, or psychiatric technician to violate or attempt to violate, either directly or indirectly, or to assist or abet the violation of these provisions.