Healing arts: expedited licensure process.

Existing law establishes various boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs to license and regulate various health professionals. Existing law requires specified boards to expedite the licensure process of an applicant who can demonstrate that they intend to provide abortions within their scope of practice and specifies the documentation an applicant is required to provide to demonstrate their intent. This bill would require the Board of Behavioral Sciences, the Board of Registered Nursing, the Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians of the State of California, the California State Board of Pharmacy, the Dental Board of California, the Dental Hygiene Board of California, the Podiatric Medical Board of California, and the Physician Assistant Board to develop a process to expedite the licensure process by giving priority review status to the application of an applicant for a license who demonstrates that they intend to practice in a medically underserved area or in a health professional shortage area, as reflected in a specified federal database, or serve a medically underserved population, as defined, and who meets specified requirements for the expedited licensure process. The bill would require an applicant for a license to demonstrate their intent to practice in a medically underserved area or in a health professional shortage area, or serve a medically underserved population, by providing a letter addressed to the applicable board from an employer that includes prescribed information. The bill would require the employer to include a written statement, signed and dated by an authorized representative of the employer, on the employer letterhead, declaring that the information provided in the letter to the board is true and correct. Under the bill, no criminal or civil penalty would be imposed for a violation of that requirement. The bill would become operative on March 1, 2025. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029.