Physician's and surgeon's certificate: registered sex offenders.

Existing law establishes various boards, as defined, within the Department of Consumer Affairs for the licensure and regulation of various professions and vocations. Existing law authorizes a board to deny a license on the grounds that the applicant has been convicted of a crime or was subject to formal discipline within the preceding 7 years from the date of application based on professional misconduct that is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of the business or profession for which the present application is made, as specified and subject to certain exceptions. This bill would authorize a board to deny a license based on formal discipline that occurred earlier than 7 years preceding the date of application if the formal discipline was based on conduct that, if committed in this state by a licensed physician and surgeon, would have constituted an act of sexual abuse, misconduct, or relations with a patient or sexual exploitation, as specified. Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, establishes the Medical Board of California for the licensure, regulation, and discipline of physicians and surgeons. Existing law requires the board to deny a physician's and surgeon's certificate to an applicant who is required to register as a sex offender, except as specified. Existing law requires the board to automatically revoke the license of any person who has been required to register as a sex offender, as specified. Existing law exempts from that provision a person who has been relieved, as specified, of their duty to register as a sex offender, or whose duty to register has otherwise been formally terminated under California law. This bill would remove the above-described exemption from the provision relating to automatic revocation of a license of a registered sex offender. The bill, additionally, would require the board to automatically revoke a license if the licensee has been convicted, as specified, in any court in or outside of this state of an offense that, if committed or attempted in this state, based on the elements of the convicted offense, would have been punishable as an offense for which a specified provision of the Sex Offender Registration Act requires registration as a sex offender. Under existing law, 5 years after the effective date of the revocation and 3 years after successful discharge from parole, probation, or both parole and probation, as specified, an individual whose license was revoked after January 1, 1947, and before January 1, 2005, for having been required to register as a sex offender is authorized to petition a superior court to hold a hearing to determine whether the individual no longer poses a possible risk to patients, as specified. If the court finds that the individual no longer poses a possible risk to patients and there are no other underlying reasons for which the board pursued disciplinary action, existing law requires the court to order the board to reinstate the individual's license, as specified. Existing law authorizes the board to issue a probationary license to that person, as specified. If the court finds that the individual continues to pose a possible risk to patients, existing law requires the court to deny relief and prohibits the individual from filing a subsequent petition based on the same conviction. This bill would remove the above-described provisions. Existing law authorizes a person whose physician's and surgeon's certificate has been surrendered while under investigation or while charges are pending or whose certificate has been revoked or suspended or placed on probation to petition the board for reinstatement or modification of penalty, as specified. This bill would, as an exemption to the above-described provision, prohibit the board from reinstating a person's certificate that has been surrendered because the person committed an act of sexual abuse, misconduct, or relations with a patient or sexual exploitation, as specified, or the person's certificate has been revoked based on a finding by the board that the person committed one of those acts. The bill, additionally, would prohibit the board from reinstating a person's certificate if the person was convicted in any court in or outside of this state of any offense that, if committed or attempted in this state, based on the elements of the convicted offense, would have been punishable as one or more of the offenses for which a specified provision of the Sex Offender Registration Act requires the offender to register as a sex offender, and the person engaged in the offense with a patient or client, or with a former patient or client if the relationship was terminated primarily for the purpose of committing the offense. The bill would prohibit the board from reinstating the certificate of a person who has been required to register as a sex offender, as specified, regardless of whether the conviction has been appealed, and the person engaged in the offense with a patient or client, or with a former patient or client if the relationship was terminated primarily for the purpose of committing the offense.