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2005/2006 Legislative Updates

During the 2005/2006 Legislative Session, many bills of general interest to the Board or those having potential impact on the administration of the Board were followed. Although these bills address many subjects, each affects registered nursing in some way. There were forty-five (45) bills followed by the Board, twenty-five (25) were signed into law by the Governor, two (2) were vetoed and eighteen (18) failed in committees or were no longer applicable to the Board. The following is a brief description of the chaptered bills followed by the Board. Unless otherwise stated, the statutes of 2005 became effective January 1, 2006, and the statutes of 2006 became effective January 1, 2007.

For additional information, please refer to www.leginfo.ca.gov.

Assembly Bills

Statutes of 2005

Statutes of 2006

Senate Bills

Statutes of 2005

Statutes of 2006

AB 702 (Koretz) - Nursing education (Link to AB 702)
AB 702 allows the Office of Statewide Health planning and Development to provide financial assistance to students who are seeking a master's or doctoral degree in nursing, from funds in the Registered nurse Education Program within the Health Professions Education Foundation. It requires that a registered nurse or student must commit to teaching nursing in a California nursing school for five (5) years in order to receive a scholarship or loan repayment for a master's or doctoral degree program.
(Chaptered 611)

AB 1116 (Yee) - Community care facilities: foster children: injections (Link to AB 1116)
AB 1116 authorizes designated foster care providers and other persons to administer emergency medical assistance and injections for severe diabetic hypoglycemia and anaphylactic shock, and subcutaneous injections of other prescribed medication, to a foster child, if the provider is trained to administer injections by a licensed health care professional. It also requires the licensed health care professional to periodically review, correct, or update this training, as the health care professional deems necessary and appropriate.
(Chaptered 637)

AB 1280 (Maze) - Public postsecondary education: California Community College Baccalaureate Partnership Program (Link to AB 1280)
AB 1280 authorizes the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to annually award up to two grants, not to exceed fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) each, to collaboratives formed for the purpose of offering baccalaureate degree programs on participating community college campuses. A collaborative is composed of at least one Community college and at least one baccalaureate degree-granting institution.
(Chaptered 515)

AB 1711 (Strickland) - Health facilities: immunizations (Link to AB 1711)
AB 1711 authorizes a registered nurse or licensed pharmacist to administer, in skilled nursing facilities, influenza and pneumococcal immunizations to patients over 50 years of age, pursuant to standing orders and without patient-specific orders. If the immunization standing orders are not patient specific, then the orders must meet specified federal recommendations and be approved by the medical director of the facility.
(Chaptered 58)

AB 1591 (Chan) - Medi-Cal: nurse practitioners (Link to AB 1591)
AB 1591 requires the State Department of Health Services to allow any certified nurse practitioner to bill Medi-Cal independently for his or her services, and the Department would be required to make payment directly to the certified nurse practitioner.
(Chaptered 719)

AB 1667 (Saldana) - Pupil health: individuals with exceptional needs: specialized physical health care services (Link to AB 1667)
AB 1667 permits individuals with exceptional needs that require specialized physical health care needs, during the regular school day, to be assisted by qualified designated school personnel trained in the administration of specialized physical health care services, under the supervision of a credentialed school nurse or physician. The services provided by designated school personnel must be routine for the pupil, pose little potential harm, be performed with predictable outcomes and not require a nursing assessment, interpretation, or decision making by the school personnel.
(Chaptered 414)

AB 2120 (Liu) - Vehicles: disabled persons: disabled veterans: parking placards (Link to AB 2120)
AB 2120 authorizes certified nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and physician assistants to sign the required certificate substantiating an applicant's disability, in order to receive a disabled parking placard from the Department of Motor Vehicles.
(Chaptered 116)

AB 2564 (Matthews) - Health facilities: criminal record clearances and blood glucose testing (Link to AB 2564)
AB 2564 authorizes direct care staff that are trained and certified by a registered nurse, to administer blood glucose testing for a person with developmental disabilities who has diabetes and is residing in an intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled habilitative or an intermediate care facility/developmentally disabled nursing.
(Chaptered 889)

AB 2609 (Evans) - Residential facilities for the elderly: employee training (Link to AB 2609)
AB 2609 increases the required training hours and specifies training requirements for employees in Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly who assist residents with self-administration of medication.
(Chaptered 615)

SB 68 (Committee on Budget & Fiscal Review) - Human services (Link to SB 68)
SB 68 provides for the expansion of the Song-Brown Family Physician Training Act to include increasing the number of students receiving education as registered nurses, through the administration of contracts with nursing education programs.
(Chaptered 78)

SB 73 (Committee on Budget & Fiscal Review) - Public postsecondary education: master's degree nursing programs (Link to SB 73)
SB 73 appropriates $3,440,000 from the General Fund to the Regents of the University of California and the Trustees of the California State University for the 2005-06 fiscal year for one-time expenditures for instructional equipment, classroom and laboratory renovations, curriculum development, and faculty recruitment for entry-level master's degree nursing programs. It requires an increase of at least 130 full-time equivalent students in entry-level master's degree nursing programs, beginning in the 2006-07 fiscal year.
(Chaptered 592)

SB 102 (Ducheny) - Nurse training funding (Link to SB 102)
SB 102 authorizes the Employment Training Panel to utilize funds in the Employment Training Fund to finance up to five (5) licensed nurse training programs to educate individuals who are currently working as nurse assistants or caregivers in health facilities.
(Chaptered 593)

SB 614 (Figueroa) - Certified nurse-midwives (Link to SB 614)
SB 614 deletes the requirement that Schedule II controlled substances, ordered by certified nurse-midwives, can only be ordered in a hospital setting. It authorizes a certified nurse-midwife to furnish or order Schedule II controlled substances under conditions applicable to Schedule III, IV, or V controlled substances. It also requires that a certified nurse-midwife with an active furnishing number provide specified documentation of continuing education relating to Schedule II controlled substances, outside the hospital setting.
(Chaptered 266)

SB 724 (Scott) - California State University: Doctor of Education degrees (Link to SB 724)
SB 724 authorizes the California State University to award the Doctor of Education degree, and prescribe standards for the awarding of that degree. It requires the California State University, the Department of Finance, and the Legislative Analyst's Office to jointly conduct, in accordance with prescribed criteria, a statewide evaluation of the doctoral programs implemented under the bill and to report the results of the evaluation, in writing, to the Legislature and the Governor on or before January 1, 2011.
(Chaptered 269)

SB 734 (Torlakson) - Controlled substances (Link to SB 734)
SB 734 requires the prescription form for controlled substances, among other provisions, be obtained from security printers approved by the Department of Justice, instead of the Board of Pharmacy. The Department of Justice will provide the applicant with the means and directions to provide fingerprints and related information, for the purpose of completing state, federal, or foreign criminal background checks. Also, if a practitioner is charged with a felony violation relative to controlled substances, the court, in its orders, would be required to prohibit a practitioner from obtaining, ordering, or using any additional prescription forms, and require the law enforcement agency to notify the Department of Justice.
(Chaptered 487)

SB 796 (Figueroa) - State government operations: accountability (Link to SB 796)
SB 796 enacts the Government Modernization, Efficiency, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2005, which, among other provisions, would require until January 1, 2012, every state agency, department, board, bureau, commission, or other governmental entity that issues permits or licenses to individuals or businesses to do the following:

  • Post on a Web site, no later than January 1, 2007, a link entitled "customer service" that contains, among other things, specified information for frequently asked questions, forms and applications, and instructions for filing complaints in electronic format via the Internet.
  • Post on its homepage of the Website, no later than January 1, 2007, a link entitled "Decisions Pending and Opportunities for Public Participation", referencing all public meetings and agendas related to state regulatory actions.
  • Hearings on proposed regulations are televised over the Internet via a Web cast or other technology, to the extent practicable.
(Chaptered 686)

SB 1111 (Figueroa) - Professions and vocations (Link to SB 1111)
SB 1111 deletes the requirement that an applicant who fails the NCLEX examination be reexamined, but not more frequently than once every three months.
(Chaptered 621)

SB 1285 (Aanestad) - Speech-language pathology (Link to SB 1285)
SB 1285 expands the scope of practice of a speech-language pathologist by authorizing pathologist to include performing suctioning, after compliance with a medical facility's training protocols, and to perform flexible endoscopic procedures in any facility that has protocols for the procedures. It authorizes a speech-language pathologist to pass a flexible fiberoptic nasendoscopic instrument only under the direct authorization of an otolaryngologist certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology and under the supervision of a physician.
(Chaptered 153)

SB 1301 (Alquist) - Health facilities: reporting and inspection requirements (Link to SB 1301)
SB 1301 requires the Department of Health Services (DHS) to take various actions related to the reporting and investigation, by the department, of any adverse event that occurs at a general acute hospital, acute psychiatric hospital or special hospital. It requires a general acute hospital, acute psychiatric hospital, or special hospital, to report to the department any adverse event within 5 days of its discovery. If the adverse event is an urgent threat to the welfare, safety or health of patients, personnel, or visitors, the event must be reported to the Department within 24 hours of its discovery. It would require DHS to conduct an onsite inspection or investigation within 48 hours or 2 business days of a complaint involving the threat of imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm. The outcomes of the inspections would be posted on the department's Internet Web Site.
(Chaptered 647)

SB 1309 (Scott) - Nursing education: grants, loan assumptions, and faculty recruiting and retention (Link to SB 1309)
SB 1309 expands the capacity of the state's institutions of higher education to prepare students for nursing careers. It establishes:

  • Health Science and Medical Technology Project to provide competitive grant funds to California public schools, to enhance existing or establish new health-related career pathway programs.
  • State Nursing Assumption Program of Loans for Education.
  • California Community College Nursing Faculty Recruitment and Retention Program for the purpose of facilitating the recruitment and retention of qualified nursing faculty.
  • Nursing Enrollment Growth and Retention program in the Chancellor's Office of the Community Colleges to facilitate the expansion of associate degree nursing programs and the improvement in completion rates in those programs.
  • Regional nursing resource center grants to develop clinical placement of students and clinical faculty resource systems.

Expansion of future baccalaureate, accelerated master's degree, ADN transition to BSN and MSN degree nursing enrollment with annual appropriations in the State Budget Act.
(Chaptered 837)

SB 1423 (Figueroa) - Laser procedures (Link to SB 1423)
SB 1423 requires the Medical Board of California, in conjunction with the Board of Registered Nursing, and in consultation with the Physician Assistant Committee and professionals in the field, to evaluate and study issues surrounding the use of laser or intense light pulse devices for elective cosmetic procedures by health care practitioners, and report to the Legislature by January 1, 2008. It also requires each board to promulgate regulations to implement changes as a result of the evaluation and study.
(Chaptered 873)

SB 1476 (Figueroa) - Professions and vocations (Link to SB 1476)
SB 1476 extends the (Sunset) provisions, relative to the Board of Registered Nursing, to become inoperative on July1, 2010, and repeal them on January 1, 2011.
(Chaptered 658)