Bill Text: CA AB774 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Health facilities: licensure.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-01 - Died pursuant to Art. IV, Sec. 10(c) of the Constitution. From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB774 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AB774-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 774	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Campos

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2011

   An act to amend Section 1277 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to health facilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 774, as introduced, Campos. Health facilities: licensure.
   Existing law provides for the licensure of health facilities by
the State Department of Public Health. Existing law requires that the
licensure requirements for professional personnel, including
psychologists, clinical social workers, and marriage and family
therapists, among others, in state and other governmental health
facilities, be not less than for those in privately owned health
facilities. The department may grant a waiver from licensure
requirements for persons employed in publicly operated health
facilities who are gaining qualifying experience for licensure. The
waiver cannot exceed 3 years from the commencement of employment in
the state in the case of psychologists or 4 years for marriage and
family therapists or clinical social workers, with one additional
year to be granted to marriage and family therapists or clinical
social workers under extenuating circumstances. Existing law requires
the department to grant the extension of a waiver for extenuating
circumstances if specified conditions are met.
   This bill would require any other department that employs a
marriage and family therapist or a clinical social worker, including
a marriage and family therapist or clinical social worker recruited
from outside this state, to grant the extension of a waiver for
extenuating circumstances if the above-described conditions are met.

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1277 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
   1277.  (a) No license shall be issued by the state department
unless it finds that the premises, the management, the bylaws, rules
and regulations, the equipment, the staffing, both professional and
nonprofessional, and the standards of care and services are adequate
and appropriate, and that the health facility is operated in the
manner required by this chapter and by the rules and regulations
adopted hereunder.
   (b) Notwithstanding any provision of Part 2 (commencing with
Section 5600) of Division 5 of, or Division 7 (commencing with
Section 7100) of, the Welfare and Institutions Code or any other law
to the contrary, except Sections 2072 and 2073 of the Business and
Professions Code, the licensure requirements for professional
personnel, including, but not limited to, physicians and surgeons,
dentists, podiatrists, psychologists, marriage and family therapists,
pharmacists, registered nurses, and clinical social workers in the
state and other governmental health facilities licensed by the state
department shall not be less than for those professional personnel in
health facilities under private ownership. Persons employed as
psychologists and clinical social workers, while continuing in their
employment in the same class as of January 1, 1979, in the same state
or other governmental health facility licensed by the state
department, including those persons on authorized leave, but not
including intermittent personnel, shall be exempt from the
requirements of this subdivision. Additionally, the requirements of
this subdivision may be waived by the state department solely for
persons in the professions of psychology, marriage and family therapy
or clinical social work who are gaining qualifying experience for
licensure in such profession in this state. A waiver granted pursuant
to this subdivision shall not exceed three years from the date the
employment commences in this state in the case of psychologists, or
four years from commencement of the employment in this state in the
case of marriage and family therapists and clinical social workers,
at which time licensure shall have been obtained or the employment
shall be terminated except that an extension of a waiver of licensure
for marriage and family therapists and clinical social workers may
be granted for one additional year, based on extenuating
circumstances determined by the department pursuant to subdivision
(e). For persons employed as psychologists, clinical social workers,
or marriage and family therapists less than full time, an extension
of a waiver of licensure may be granted for additional years
proportional to the extent of part-time employment, as long as the
person is employed without interruption in service, but in no case
shall the waiver of licensure exceed six years in the case of
clinical social workers and marriage and family therapists or five
years in the case of psychologists. However, this durational
limitation upon waivers shall not apply to active candidates for a
doctoral degree in social work, social welfare, or social science,
who are enrolled at an accredited university, college, or
professional school, but these limitations shall apply following
completion of this training. Additionally, this durational limitation
upon waivers shall not apply to active candidates for a doctoral
degree in marriage and family therapy who are enrolled at a school,
college, or university, specified in subdivision (b) of Section
4980.36 of, or subdivision (b) of Section 4980.37 of, the Business
and Professions Code, but the limitations shall apply following
completion of the training. A waiver pursuant to this subdivision
shall be granted only to the extent necessary to qualify for
licensure, except that personnel recruited for employment from
outside this state and whose experience is sufficient to gain
admission to a licensing examination shall nevertheless have one year
from the date of their employment in California to become licensed,
at which time licensure shall have been obtained or the employment
shall be terminated, provided that the employee shall take the
licensure examination at the earliest possible date after the date of
his or her employment, and if the employee does not pass the
examination at that time, he or she shall have a second opportunity
to pass the next possible examination, subject to the one-year limit
for marriage and family therapists and clinical social workers, and
subject to a two-year limit for psychologists.
   (c) A special permit shall be issued by the state department when
it finds that the staff, both professional and nonprofessional, and
the standards of care and services are adequate and appropriate, and
that the special services unit is operated in the manner required in
this chapter and by the rules and regulations adopted hereunder.
   (d) The state department shall apply the same standards to state
and other governmental health facilities that it licenses as it
applies to health facilities in private ownership, including
standards specifying the level of training and supervision of all
unlicensed practitioners. Except for psychologists, the department
may grant an extension of a waiver of licensure for personnel
recruited from outside this state for one additional year, based upon
extenuating circumstances as determined by the department pursuant
to subdivision (e).
   (e)  The department  , or any other state department that
employs a marriage and family therapist or a clinical social worker,
including a marriage and family therapist or clinical social worker
recruited from outside this state,  shall grant a request for an
extension of a waiver based on extenuating circumstances, pursuant
to subdivisions (b) and (d), if any of the following circumstances
exist:
   (1)  The person requesting the extension has experienced a recent
catastrophic event which may impair the person's ability to qualify
for and pass the license examination. Those events may include, but
are not limited to, significant hardship caused by a natural
disaster, serious and prolonged illness of the person, serious and
prolonged illness or death of a child, spouse, or parent, or other
stressful circumstances.
   (2)  The person requesting the extension has difficulty speaking
or writing the English language, or other cultural and ethnic factors
exist which substantially impair the person's ability to qualify for
and pass the license examination.
   (3)  The person requesting the extension has experienced other
personal hardship which the department, in its discretion, determines
to warrant the extension.