Healing arts: licensees: data collection.

Existing law requires the Board of Registered Nursing, the Physician Assistant Board, the Respiratory Care Board of California, and the Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians of the State of California to regulate and oversee the practice of healing arts within their respective jurisdictions and to, among other things, collect and report specific demographic data relating to their licensees, subject to a licensee's discretion to report their race or ethnicity, to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. Existing law requires these boards to collect this data at least biennially, at the times of both issuing an initial license and issuing a renewal license. Existing law also authorizes the Board of Registered Nursing to expend $145,000 to implement these provisions. This bill would repeal those provisions and would, instead, require all boards that oversee healing arts licensees to request at the time of electronic application for a license and license renewal, or at least biennially, specified demographic information from its licensees and, if designated by the board, its registrants and to post the information on the internet websites that they each maintain. The bill would specify that licensees and registrants shall not be required to provide the requested information. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2022, require each board, or the Department of Consumer Affairs on its behalf, to provide the information annually to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. The bill would require these boards to maintain the confidentiality of the information they receive from licensees and registrants and to release information only in deidentified aggregate from, as specified. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.