Healing arts.

(1) Existing law requires the Medical Board of California, the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, the California Board of Podiatric Medicine, and the Physician Assistant Board to disclose to an inquiring member of the public specified information regarding any enforcement action taken against a licensee. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to those provisions. (2) Existing law, the Dental Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of dental hygienists by the Dental Hygiene Board of California within the Department of Consumer Affairs, and specifies that, for purposes of the dental hygiene provisions, "hygiene board" means the Dental Hygiene Board of California. This bill, in the provisions regulating dental hygienists, would replace all of the references to "hygiene board" with "dental hygiene board." (3) Existing law authorizes the Medical Board of California to make loans to medical students at a prescribed interest rate in accordance with specified conditions, which are repayable to the Contingent Fund of the Medical Board of California. This bill would repeal those provisions. (4) Existing law authorizes the Medical Board of California to award loans to licensed physicians and surgeons who agree to establish a medical practice in an area deficient in primary care services, and requires those loans to be repayable to the Contingent Fund of the Medical Board of California. This bill would repeal those provisions. (5) Existing law, the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Act and the Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of marriage and family therapists and licensed professional clinical counselors, respectively, by the Board of Behavioral Sciences. Existing law requires an applicant for licensure or regulation as a marriage and family therapist to meet specified educational requirements, including, for specified applicants, possessing a doctoral or master's degree that provides a practicum that involves direct client contact in, among others, prognosis, and instruction in the prognosis of mental disorders, and a supervised practicum in applied psychotherapeutic prognosis. Existing law requires an applicant for licensure as a professional clinical counselor to meet specified educational requirements, including possessing a degree that includes a supervised practicum or field study experience that involves direct client contact in a clinical setting for a range of professional clinical counseling experiences, including prognosis. This bill would, under both acts, replace the requirement for prognosis with a requirement for treatment planning, as described above. (6) Existing law, the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Act, the Educational Psychologist Practice Act, the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act, and the Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Act, requires an applicant for licensure or regulation under those acts to pass specified board-administered examinations. Those acts prohibit the board from delaying informing a candidate for licensure of the results of the written examination solely upon the receipt of a complaint alleging acts or conduct that would constitute grounds to deny licensure. The Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Act and the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act authorize the board to withhold the results of a specified clinical examination if the applicant had passed a law and ethics examination but was under the investigation of the board. This bill would revise those acts to eliminate the prohibitions on the board from delaying informing a candidate for licensure of the results of the written examination solely upon the receipt of a complaint alleging acts or conduct that would constitute grounds to deny licensure. The bill would also revise the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Act and the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act to remove the authorization for the board to withhold the results of a specified clinical examination as described above. (7) Existing law, the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Act, as a condition of licensure or registration, requires a person to possess a doctoral or master's degree that meets specified requirements. The bill would add to the list of degrees that qualify a person for licensure or registration under the act to include a degree in clinical mental health counseling with an emphasis in either marriage, family, and child counseling or marriage and family therapy. This bill would require that the doctoral or master's degree program that qualifies for licensure or registration be a single, integrated program. (8) Existing law, the Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Act, as a condition of licensure, requires a person to possess a master's or doctoral degree that is counseling or psychotherapy in content and prescribes requirements for the degree. This bill would require that the degree be a single, integrated program. (9) Existing provisions of the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Act, the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act, and the Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Act authorize trainees, associates, or applicants for licensure to only perform services at the places where their employer regularly conducts business and services. This bill would instead authorize those persons to only perform services at the places where their employer permits business to be conducted. (10) This bill would repeal obsolete provisions and would make other conforming and nonsubstantive changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 2234 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by SB 425 to be operative only if this bill and SB 425 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 4980.81 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by SB 679 to be operative only if this bill and SB 679 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.