Department of Consumer Affairs: boards: licensees: regulatory fees.

Existing law establishes the Department of Consumer Affairs, which is comprised of boards that are established for the purpose of licensing and regulating various professions and vocations, including healing arts licensees and generally authorizes a board to charge fees for the reasonable regulatory cost of administering the regulatory program for the profession or vocation. Existing law establishes the Professions and Vocations Fund in the State Treasury, which consists of specified special funds and accounts, some of which are continuously appropriated. (1) Existing law requires a Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) fee of $6 to be assessed annually, at the time of license renewal, on specified active licensees to pay the reasonable costs associated with operating and maintaining CURES for the purpose of regulating those licensees. Existing law requires these fees to be deposited in the CURES Fund, which is subject to appropriation by the Legislature. This bill, beginning April 1, 2021, would increase that fee to $11 and subsequently, beginning April 1, 2023, the bill would decrease that fee to $9. (2) Existing law regulates the practice of podiatric medicine by the Podiatric Medical Board of California and prescribes various fees relating to, among others, an application, licensure, and renewal. All revenue received by the board is required to be deposited into the Podiatric Medical Board Fund, which is available to the board upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law, on and after January 1, 2021, decreases the biennial renewal fee from $1,100 to $900. This bill instead would increase the biennial renewal fee from $1,100 to $1,318 on and after January 1, 2021. (3) Existing law, the Acupuncture Licensure Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of the practice of acupuncture by the Acupuncture Board. Existing law establishes the Acupuncture Fund to carry out the provisions of the act, upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law requires the board to issue a license to practice acupuncture to a person who, among other things, furnishes satisfactory evidence of completion of an approved educational and training program, as specified, satisfactory completion of a tutorial program in the practice of an acupuncturist that is approved by the board, or in the case of an applicant who has completed education and training outside the United States, documented educational training and clinical experience that meets the specified standards. Existing law requires the fees prescribed for acupuncture tutorial programs to be specified amounts. Existing law requires the board to pay the entire amount of the revenue it receives pursuant to the act to the Treasurer for deposit in the fund. This bill would decrease the application and registration fee to supervise an acupuncture trainee from $200 to $100, and would authorize the board to increase the fee to not more than $200. The bill would increase the annual renewal fee for approval to supervise an acupuncture trainee from $50 to $200, and would authorize the board to increase the fee to not more than $500. The bill would increase the application fee for an acupuncture trainee from $25 to $1,000, and would authorize the board to increase the fee to not more than $2,500. The bill would increase the renewal fee for an acupuncture trainee from $10 to $500, and would authorize the board to increase the fee to not more than $600. The bill would revise the delinquency fee for a supervisor from 50% of the renewal fee to be 50% of the renewal fee in effect on the date of the renewal of the license, but not less than $25 nor more than $150. The bill would revise the delinquency fee for an acupuncture trainee from 50% of the renewal fee to be $100, and would authorize the board to increase the fee to not more than $200. The bill would make these provisions operative on January 1, 2021. Existing law requires a licensee, within 30 days of licensure, to register each of the licensee's places of practice or notify the board if the licensee does not have a place of practice. Existing law requires an acupuncturist to post a wall license at their place of practice and, if the acupuncturist has more than one place of practice, to obtain and post a duplicate wall license at each place of practice. Existing law requires a licensee to apply to the board to obtain a wall license for each place of practice and to renew each wall license biennially. Existing law requires a licensee to carry a pocket license during treatments outside of the licensee's place of practice and to make the pocket license available upon request. Existing law requires a licensee to return a former wall license to the board if the licensee obtains a new wall license for a location. Existing law revises specified fees associated with acupuncture practice, including specifying that an initial license fee shall include one wall license registration if a place of practice is specified in the application, and establishes a wall license renewal fee, a wall license replacement fee, and a pocket license replacement fee. Existing law makes the provisions described in this paragraph operative January 1, 2021. This bill instead would revise the amounts of the fees that are operative on January 1, 2021, including requiring the application fee to be $250 and authorizing the board to increase the application fee to not more than $350, requiring the examination and reexamination fees to be $800, requiring the initial license fee and the renewal to be $500 each, except as specified, requiring the endorsement fee to be $100, and requiring the wall license fee, the wall license renewal fee, the wall license replacement fee, and the pocket license replacement fee to be $50 each. The bill would, commencing January 1, 2021, require the application fee for foreign applicants to be $350 and authorizes the board to increase the application fee to not more than $500. The bill, commencing January 1, 2021, would require the approval fee for each provider of continuing education and the biennial renewal fee for each provider to be $500 each, and would authorize the board to increase the fees to not more than $700. The bill, commencing January 1, 2021, would require the fee for continuing education course applications to be assessed to the continuing education provider at a floor of $10 per hour of continuing education requested to offer, and a cap of $20 per hour of continuing education requested to offer, allowing up to a maximum of 50 hours to be approved per course application. The bill would specify that an approved course may be offered for a period of one year from the date of the board course approval. (4) Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of marriage and family therapists, licensed educational psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, and licensed professional clinical counselors by the Board of Behavioral Sciences. Existing law requires applicants for licensure and licensees under those acts to pay specified fees for licensure, license renewal, and examinations, and requires licensees who renew their license after allowing it to expire to pay delinquency fees. Existing law requires the board to establish the required fees at or below the maximum amounts specified under the act. Under existing law, the Behavioral Sciences Fund is required to be used for the purposes of carrying out and enforcing those provisions. Under existing law, all moneys in the Behavioral Sciences Fund is required to be expended, upon appropriation of the Legislature, by the board for the respective programs under its jurisdiction, as provided. This bill would revise and recast the fees described above. The bill would establish new minimum fee amounts, and would authorize the board to adopt regulations to set the fees at a higher amount up to the prescribed maximum. The bill would require the delinquency fee to be 50% of the fee for license renewal. The bill would make these provisions operative on January 1, 2021.