Department of Consumer Affairs: task force: foreign-trained professionals.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law establishes the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, which requires state boards, commissions, and similar state-created multimember bodies to give public notice of meetings and conduct their meetings in public unless authorized to meet in closed session. This bill, the California Opportunity Act of 2017, would require the Department of Consumer Affairs to create a task force, as specified, to study and write a report of its findings and recommendations regarding the licensing of foreign-trained professionals with the goal of integrating foreign-trained professionals into the state's workforce, as specified. The bill would authorize the task force to hold hearings and invite testimony from experts and the public to gather information. The bill would require the task force to submit the report to the Legislature no later than January 1, 2019, as specified. The bill also would require the task force to meet at least once each calendar quarter, as specified, and to hold its meetings in accordance with the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act. The bill would require each member of the task force to receive per diem and reimbursement for expenses incurred, as specified, and would require the task force to solicit input from a variety of government agencies, stakeholders, and the public, including, among others, the Little Hoover Commission and the California Workforce Development Board.