Existing law establishes the Board of Behavioral Sciences within the Department of Consumer Affairs and requires the board to regulate licensees and registrants under the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Act (LMFTA) , the Educational Psychologist Practice Act (EPPA) , the Clinical Social Worker Practice Act (CSWPA) , and the Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor Act (LPCCA) . Existing law makes a violation of those acts a crime. The LMFTA, the CSWPA, and the LPCCA each contain varying provisions limiting their application to the practice of certain medical and other behavioral science professionals, attorneys, and certain religious personnel, including priests, rabbis, and ministers of the gospel of any religious denomination. This bill would revise and recast those provisions to, among other things, exempt a religious official of any denomination, including those specified above and imams, when providing faith-based counseling services as part of their regular professional duties for an established and legally recognizable faith-based entity if certain criteria are met. The bill would also exempt attorneys and physicians who provide counseling services as part of their professional practice from the LMFTA and the LPCCA. Existing law establishes examination and experiential requirements under the LMFTA, the EPPA, the CSWPA, and the LPCCA to qualify for licensure or registration under those acts and requires an applicant for licensure or registration to have passed certain examinations or obtain specified experience within a certain timeline for it to be accepted by the board. In this regard, existing law generally requires the applicant to gain the required experience no more than 6 years before the board receives the application. For licensed educational psychologists, the EPPA authorizes the board to accept a passing score on a written examination administered by the board for a period of 7 years from the date the examination was taken. Under the LMFTA, the CSWPA, and the LPCCA, registrants and applicants for licensure, registration, or a subsequent registration number are required to pass a California law and ethics examination. The LMFTA, the CSWPA, and the LPCCA require an applicant for licensure to pass a clinical examination within 7 years from the initial attempt, unless the applicant obtains a passing score on the current version of the California law and ethics examination. This bill, instead, would require applicants for licensure under the LMFTA, the EPPA, the CSWPA, and the LPCCA, to obtain the relevant experience and to pass the relevant examination within 7 years preceding the date on which the board receives the application. The bill would require those applicants and registrants under the LMFTA, the CSWPA, and the LPCCA who submit applications to the board on and after January 1, 2030, to have passed the California law and ethics examination no more than 7 years before the board receives the application, as specified. Existing law authorizes an associate marriage and family therapist registration, an associate clinical social worker registration, or an associate professional clinical counselor registration to be renewed a maximum of 5 times and prohibits a registration from being renewed beyond 6 years from the last day of the month of issuance. Existing law authorizes an applicant to apply for a subsequent registration number when no renewals are possible if certain requirements are met. Existing law prohibits an applicant who is issued a subsequent associate registration number from being employed or volunteering in a private practice. This bill would increase the maximum number of renewals for those registrations to 6 and would extend the renewal deadline to 7 years from the last day of the month of issuance. The bill would authorize an applicant applying for or holding a subsequent associate registration number to request a 2-year hardship extension of the subsequent associate registration number to allow them to be employed or volunteer at one private practice or professional corporation employer, subject to specified conditions and requirements, including signing an application under penalty of perjury. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires an associate marriage and family therapist or a marriage and family therapist trainee to disclose to a client or patient that they are unlicensed and to provide specified information to the client or patient. Existing law requires a social work applicant or registrant and a clinical counselor trainee, applicant, or associate to inform each client or patient that they are unlicensed and under supervision, as specified. This bill would instead require a marriage and family therapist applicant or registrant, a social work applicant, registrant, intern, or trainee, or a clinical counselor applicant, associate, or trainee, in addition to disclosing to a client or patient that they are unlicensed and under supervision, to provide the name of their employer or the entity for which they volunteer. Existing law establishes a $20 fee for rescoring a written examination under the LMFTA, the EPPA, the CSWPA, and the LPCCA. This bill would delete that fee. This bill would delete obsolete provisions and make other technical and nonsubstantive changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 4980.41 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by SB 1445 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1445 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of adult alcohol or other drug recovery or treatment facilities by the State Department of Public Health and prohibits the operation of one of those facilities without a current valid license. Existing law requires the department, if a facility is alleged to be in violation of that prohibition, to conduct a site visit to investigate the allegation. Existing law requires, if the department's employee or agent finds evidence that the facility is providing services without a license, the employee or agent to take specified actions, including, among others, submitting the findings of the investigation to the department and issuing a written notice to the facility that includes the date by which the facility is required to cease providing services. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services, through fee-for-service or managed care delivery systems. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law establishes the Drug Medi-Cal Treatment Program (Drug Medi-Cal) and authorizes the department to enter into a Drug Medi-Cal contract with each county for the provision of alcohol and drug use services within the county service area. This bill would require the department, if it determines it has jurisdiction over the allegation, to assign the complaint to an analyst within 10 days of receiving the allegation and, except as specified, complete the investigation within 120 days of assigning the complaint. The bill would require the department, if it receives a complaint that does not fall under its jurisdiction, to notify, to the extent feasible, the complainant that it does not investigate that type of complaint. The bill would require the employee or agent to provide their findings to the department and would require the department to issue the notice described above within 10 days of the employee or agency submitting their findings and to conduct a followup site visit to determine whether the facility has ceased providing services as required. The bill would authorize, in counties that elect to administer the Drug Medi-Cal organized delivery system and that provide optional recovery housing services, the county behavioral health agency to request approval from the department to conduct a site visit of a recovery residence that the county contracts with that is alleged to be operating without a license. The bill would permit the department to approve that request in certain circumstances, including that the department has sufficient evidence to substantiate the allegation. Existing law requires licensed adult alcohol or other drug recovery or treatment facilities and certified alcohol or other drug programs to disclose to the department whether any of its agents, partners, directors, officers, or owners has a specified interest in a recovery residence and requires the department to take action against an unlicensed facility that is disclosed as a recovery residence. This bill would require the department, if it takes action against a recovery residence pursuant to that provision, to conduct a site visit of a certified program or licensed facility that has disclosed the specified interest in the recovery residence. The bill would also require, no later than July 15, 2027, and by July 15 each year thereafter, that all programs certified or facilities licensed by the department submit to the department a report of all money transfers between the program or facility and a recovery residence during the previous fiscal year, in order to detect patient brokering, illicit kickbacks, or unethical inducements that harm patients. The bill would require the department to analyze that data and develop guidelines for permissible and impermissible transfers.
Existing law establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness to oversee the implementation of Housing First guidelines and regulations, and, among other things, identify resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California. Existing law requires a state agency or department that funds, implements, or administers a state program that provides housing or housing-related services to people experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of homelessness to revise or adopt guidelines and regulations to include enumerated Housing First policies. Existing law specifies the core components of Housing First, including services that are informed by a harm-reduction philosophy that recognizes drug and alcohol use and addiction as a part of tenants' lives and where tenants are engaged in nonjudgmental communication regarding drug and alcohol use. This bill would require applicants for state homelessness funding for recovery housing, as defined, to demonstrate the availability of a range of interventions, as specified. The bill would require a program that provides recovery housing to meet specified requirements in order to be eligible for state funding, including that the program satisfies the core components of Housing First, relapse is not, unless there is another lease violation, grounds for eviction and residents receive relapse support, the program provides emergency preparedness and overdose prevention and response training to staff and residents and makes overdose reversal medication available and readily accessible to staff and residents onsite, and the program adopts and maintains a written return-to-use policy, as specified. The bill would make related findings and declarations.
Existing law that governs the labor relations of public employees and employers, including, among others, the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act, the Ralph C. Dills Act, provisions relating to public schools, and provisions relating to higher education prohibits employers from taking certain actions relating to employee organization, including imposing or threatening to impose reprisals on employees, discriminating or threatening to discriminate against employees, or otherwise interfering with, restraining, or coercing employees because of their exercise of their guaranteed rights. Those provisions of existing law further prohibit denying to employee organizations the rights guaranteed to them by existing law. This bill would prohibit a public employer from questioning a public employee, a representative of a recognized employee organization, or an exclusive representative regarding communications made in confidence between an employee and an employee representative in connection with representation relating to any matter within the scope of the recognized employee organization's representation. The bill would also prohibit a public employer from compelling a public employee, a representative of a recognized employee organization, or an exclusive representative to disclose those confidential communications to a third party. The bill would not apply to a criminal investigation or when a public safety officer is under investigation and certain circumstances exist.
Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacists by the California State Board of Pharmacy. Existing law authorizes a pharmacist to, among other things, perform certain procedures or functions and furnish specified drugs. Existing law authorizes the refilling of a prescription for a dangerous drug without the authorization of the prescriber if the prescriber is unavailable to authorize the refill and, in the pharmacist's professional judgment, failure to refill the prescription might interrupt the patient's ongoing care and have a significant adverse effect on the patient's well-being. Existing law requires a pharmacist to notify the prescriber, as specified, of any prescription refilled without their authorization. This bill would only require a pharmacist to provide that notification if a prescriber is identified.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law sets forth various Medi-Cal provisions relating to complex rehabilitation technology (CRT) , which is a form of durable medical equipment, including, but not limited to, complex rehabilitation manual and power wheelchairs. Existing law requires a CRT provider to a Medi-Cal beneficiary to comply with certain standards, including with regard to CRT repairs. Existing law authorizes the department to adopt any utilization controls for CRT, as appropriate. This bill would prohibit the department from requiring prior authorization for the repair of a CRT-powered wheelchair if the cost of the repair does not exceed $1,250. Under the bill, a treatment authorization request for repair or replacement of a CRT-powered wheelchair would not require an individual prescription or documentation of medical necessity from the treating practitioner if the CRT-powered wheelchair has already been approved for use by the patient. For repair of a CRT-powered wheelchair, the bill would require the supplier to document and maintain records of the items being repaired, the reason for the repair, and the labor details, as specified, with the information being subject to a postpayment audit by the department. The bill would set forth other recording requirements for the supplier.
Existing law establishes the Maddy Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Fund and authorizes each county to establish an emergency medical services fund for reimbursement of costs related to emergency medical services. Existing law, until January 1, 2027, requires 15% of the fund to be used to, among other things, improve access to, and coordination of, pediatric trauma and emergency services, with specified preferences, and requires the cost of administering money deposited into the EMS Fund to be reimbursed from the money collected, as specified. Existing law, until January 1, 2027, authorizes county boards of supervisors to elect to levy an additional penalty, for deposit into the EMS Fund, in the amount of $2 for every $10 upon fines, penalties, and forfeitures collected for criminal offenses. Existing law, until January 1, 2027, requires 15% of the funds collected pursuant to that provision to be used to provide funding for pediatric trauma centers. This bill would extend the operative date of these provisions until January 1, 2037.
Existing law authorizes a school district, county office of education, and charter school to provide emergency naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist to school nurses and trained personnel who have volunteered, and authorizes school nurses and trained personnel to use naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist to provide emergency medical aid to persons suffering, or reasonably believed to be suffering, from an opioid overdose. This bill, to be known as the School Safety and Opioid Overdose Prevention Act, and commencing with the 2027–28 school year, would require a school resource officer, as defined, to (1) upon assignment to a schoolsite, and at least every 2 years thereafter, complete an opioid overdose recognition and response training, as specified, and (2) report, on or before July 1, 2028, and annually thereafter until July 1, 2030, to the State Department of Public Health, among other things, the number of times the school resource officer administered an opioid antagonist, and the types of opioid antagonist received and administered, while serving at a schoolsite. The bill would prohibit a school resource officer who administers an opioid antagonist while assigned to a schoolsite, and their employing or contracting entity, from being held liable in a civil action or being subject to criminal prosecution for the school resource officer's acts or omissions, unless those acts or omissions constitute gross negligence or willful and wanton misconduct, as provided. The bill would require the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, in consultation with the State Department of Education, to provide implementation guidance to local educational agencies and law enforcement agencies on accessing opioid antagonists at low or no cost and integrating overdose response into school safety planning. The bill would require the State Department of Public Health, on or before July 1, 2031, to submit a report to the Legislature with the information annually reported by school resource officers, and post specified information on the department's internet website, as provided.
Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to conduct a program of epidemiological assessments of the incidence of Parkinson's disease and establish a system for the collection of information determining the incidence of Parkinson's disease. Existing law encourages the department to convene a task force comprised of researchers with expertise in Parkinson's disease, advocates for patients with Parkinson's disease, and other individuals with relevant expertise to provide support and advice for the implementation and funding of the program. Existing law requires the director to establish a statewide system for the collection of information determining the incidence of Parkinson's disease. This bill would require the department to establish the California Epilepsy Program for the purposes of epidemiological assessments of the incidence and prevalence of epilepsy and seizures. The bill would require the department to convene an advisory panel comprised of specified individuals to provide support and advice for the implementation of the program. The bill would authorize the department to seek private or public funding and to spend those funds for the purposes of the program, and would authorize the department to contract with various entities for the purposes of collecting and collating data. The bill would require the department to analyze available data, to prepare and publish reports on its internet website as necessary, and to publish on its internet website a listing of agencies that offer services to individuals affected by epilepsy, as specified.
Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of the practice of medicine by the Medical Board of California. The act requires the board to automatically revoke a license under certain circumstances and authorizes the person to petition the board for reinstatement or modification of penalty after a specified period of time. Existing law prohibits the board from reinstating the certificate of a person if the person's certificate has been surrendered because the person committed an act of sexual misconduct, relations with a patient, or sexual exploitation, as specified. This bill would instead prohibit the board from reinstating the certificate of a person whose certificate was surrendered while a board accusation was pending against their license that alleges the person committed those acts.
