Professional licensure.

(1) Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of health facilities by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law prohibits the licensure requirements for professional personnel, including psychologists, marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, and professional clinical counselors, in the state and other governmental health facilities licensed by the department from being less than for those professional personnel in health facilities under private ownership. Existing law authorizes the department to waive that requirement for persons in the profession of psychology who are gaining qualifying experience for licensure in that profession in this state, and prohibits the waiver from exceeding 3 years from the date the employment commences in this state. Existing law requires that a person employed or under contract to provide diagnostic, treatment, or other mental health services in the state or to supervise or provide consultation on these services in the state correctional system be a physician and surgeon, a psychologist, or other health professional, licensed to practice in this state. Existing law authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to waive that requirement for persons in the profession of psychology who are gaining qualifying experience for licensure in that profession in this state, and prohibits the waiver from exceeding 3 years from the date the employment commences in this state. This bill would extend the applicable time for those waivers to 4 years from commencement of the employment in this state, and would authorize the extension of the waiver for one additional year. (2) Existing law, the Bronzan-McCorquodale Act, contains provisions governing the operation and financing of community mental health services for the mentally disordered in every county through locally administered and locally controlled community mental health programs. The act requires persons employed or under contract to provide mental health services pursuant to these provisions to be subject to all applicable requirements of law regarding professional licensure, and prohibits a person from being employed to provide services for which a license is required unless the person possesses a valid license. The act requires the State Department of Health Care Services to waive these requirements for persons who have been recruited for employment from outside the state as psychologists, clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, or professional clinical counselors and whose experience is sufficient to gain admission to a licensing examination, and prohibits the waiver from exceeding 3 years from the date of employment by, or contract with, a local mental health program. This bill would extend the applicable time for that waiver to 5 years from the date of employment by, or contract with, a local mental health program under the act. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which basic health care services are provided to qualified low-income persons. Existing law provides that specialty mental health services are covered under the Medi-Cal program for eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries and coverage for those services is provided through mental health plans. The bill would also make the above-mentioned requirements and waivers regarding professional licensure applicable for persons employed or under contract to provide mental health services as part of a mental health plan that contracts with the department to provide specialty mental health services under the Medi-Cal program. The bill would require the department to implement, interpret, or make specific these provisions by means of information notices, plan or provider bulletins, or similar instructions until regulations are adopted on or before December 31, 2020. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.