Current Legislative Updates and Board Legislative Positions as of September 6, 2024
2023–2024 LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
The Speech–Language Pathology and Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensers Board took the following positions on pending legislation during the 2023–2024 legislative session.
AB 1028 (McKinnor) Reporting of crimes: mandated reporters.
Status: 8/15/2024–Failed Deadline pursuant to Rule 61(b)(14). (Last location was APPR. SUSPENSE FILE on 8/28/2023)
Summary: Would, on and after January 1, 2025, remove the requirement that a health practitioner make a report to law enforcement when they suspect a patient has suffered physical injury caused by assaultive or abusive conduct, and instead only require that report if the health practitioner suspects a patient has suffered a wound or physical injury inflicted by the person's own act or inflicted by another where the injury is by means of a firearm, a wound or physical injury resulting from child abuse, or a wound or physical injury resulting from elder abuse.
Position: Watch
AB 1900 (Weber) Consumer refunds: nondisclosure agreements.
Status: 7/15/2024–Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 89, Statutes of 2024
Summary: Current law generally regulates the formation and enforcement of contracts, and also regulates consumer refunds specific to certain industries and under specified circumstances. This bill would make a provision in a contract or agreement that prohibits a consumer from publishing or making statements about the business as a condition of receiving a refund or other consideration or thing of value contrary to public policy and void and unenforceable.
Position: Watch
AB 1949 (Wicks) California Consumer Privacy Act of 2020: collection of personal information of a consumer less than 18 years of age.
Status: 8/29/2024–Assembly Rule 77 suspended. Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 60. Noes 0.).
Summary: The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2020 (CCPA), approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, requires a consumer, as defined, to have various rights with respect to personal information, as defined, that is collected or sold by a business, as defined, including the right to direct a business that sells or shares personal information about a consumer to third parties to not sell or share the consumer's personal information. The act prohibits a business from selling or sharing the personal information of a consumer if the business has actual knowledge that the consumer is less than 16 years of age, unless the consumer, or the consumer's parent or guardian, as applicable, has affirmatively authorized the sale or sharing of the consumer's personal information. This bill would instead prohibit a business from selling or sharing the personal information of a consumer if the business has actual knowledge that the consumer is less than 18 years of age and would revise the above-described prohibition to prohibit a business from selling or sharing the personal information of a consumer over 13 years of age, but less than 18 years of age, unless the consumer, or the consumer's parent or guardian, as applicable, has affirmatively authorized the sale or sharing of the consumer's personal information, as specified.
Position: Watch
AB 1991 (Bonta) Licensee and registrant renewal: National Provider Identifier.
Status: 9/3/2024–Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3:30 p.m.
Summary: Would require a healing arts board, as defined, to require a licensee or registrant who electronically renews their license or registration to provide to that board the licensee's or registrant's individual National Provider Identifier, if they have one. The bill would provide that a violation of the bill's requirements is not a crime.
Position: Watch
AB 2011 (Bauer-Kahan) Unlawful employment practices: small employer family leave mediation program: reproductive loss leave.
Status: 7/18/2024–Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 147, Statutes of 2024
Summary: The California Fair Employment and Housing Act establishes the Civil Rights Department within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and sets forth its powers and duties relating to enforcement of civil rights laws with respect to housing and employment. Current law requires the department to create a small employer family leave mediation pilot program for the resolution of alleged violations of prescribed provisions on family care and medical and bereavement leave, applicable to employers with between 5 and 19 employees. Current law requires the department to generally initiate the mediation within 60 days following a request, prohibits an employee from pursuing a civil action until the mediation is complete or the mediation is deemed unsuccessful, and tolls the statute of limitations applicable to the employee's claim, including for all related claims not subject to mediation, from the date of receipt of a request to participate in the program until the mediation is complete or the mediation is deemed unsuccessful. Under current law, the mediation is deemed complete when one of specified events occurs, including that the mediator determines that the core facts of the employee's complaint are unrelated to the specified family care and medical and bereavement leave provisions. Current law repeals the pilot program on January 1, 2025. This bill would expand the program to include resolution of alleged violations of prescribed provisions on reproductive loss leave. In relation to the above-described provisions regarding the statute of limitations, the bill would additionally toll the statute of limitations applicable to an employee's claim relating to an alleged violation of specified provisions on reproductive loss leave, as provided.
Position: Watch
AB 2269 (Flora) Board membership qualifications: public members.
Status: 7/2/2024–Failed Deadline pursuant to Rule 61(b)(13). (Last location was B., P. & E.D. on 5/8/2024)
Summary: Current law establishes specified boards, bureaus, and commissions in the Department of Consumer Affairs for the purpose of licensing and regulating various professions and vocations. Current law prohibits a public member or a lay member appointed to a board, as defined, from, among other things, having a specified relationship with a licensee of that board within 5 years of the public member's or lay member's appointment. This bill would prohibit a public member or a lay member of any board from having a specified relationship with a licensee of that board, for services provided pursuant to that license, within 3 years of the public member's or lay member's appointment.
Position: Watch
AB 2339 (Aguiar-Curry) Medi-Cal: telehealth.
Status: 8/28/2024–In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 30 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77. Assembly Rule 77 suspended. Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling.
Summary: Under current law, subject to federal approval, in-person, face-to-face contact is not required under Medi-Cal when covered health care services are provided by video synchronous interaction, asynchronous store and forward, audio-only synchronous interaction, remote patient monitoring, or other permissible virtual communication modalities, when those services and settings meet certain criteria. Current law defines "asynchronous store and forward" as the transmission of a patient's medical information from an originating site to the health care provider at a distant site. This bill would expand that definition, for purposes of the above-described Medi-Cal provisions, to include asynchronous electronic transmission initiated directly by patients, including through mobile telephone applications.
Position: Watch
AB 2862 (Gipson) Department of Consumer Affairs: African American applicants.
Status: 7/2/2024–Failed Deadline pursuant to Rule 61(b)(13). (Last location was B., P. & E.D. on 6/5/2024)
Summary: Current law establishes the Department of Consumer Affairs, which is composed of specified boards that license and regulate various professions. This bill would require those boards to prioritize African American applicants seeking licenses under these provisions, especially applicants who are descended from a person enslaved in the United States. The bill would repeal those provisions on January 1, 2029.
Position: Watch
AB 2908 (Chen) Shareholders' meetings: remote communication.
Status: 7/18/2024–Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 157, Statutes of 2024
Summary: The General Corporation Law authorizes corporations not governed by other specified state laws to conduct a meeting of shareholders by electronic transmission by and to the corporation, electronic video screen communication, conference telephone, or other means of remote communication if the corporation implements reasonable measures to provide shareholders and proxyholders a reasonable opportunity to participate and vote, among other conditions. Current law authorizes a corporation to conduct a meeting by means of electronic communication in the absence of consent of all shareholders, on or before December 31, 2025, if the meeting includes a live audiovisual feed for the duration of the meeting. This bill would delete the above-described deadline of December 31, 2025, thereby making this provision operative indefinitely.
Position: Watch
AB 3127 (McKinnor) Reporting of crimes: mandated reporters.
Status: 8/15/2024–Failed Deadline pursuant to Rule 61(b)(14). (Last location was APPR. SUSPENSE FILE on 6/24/2024)
Summary: Current law requires a health practitioner, as defined, to make a report to law enforcement when they suspect a patient has suffered physical injury that is either self-inflicted, caused by a firearm, or caused by assaultive or abusive conduct, including elder abuse, sexual assault, or torture. A violation of these provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would remove the requirement that a health practitioner make a report to law enforcement when they suspect a patient has suffered physical injury caused by assaultive or abusive conduct. The bill would instead require that a health practitioner make a report when the injury is life threatening or results in death, as specified, or is the result of child abuse or elder or dependent adult abuse. The bill would require the health practitioner to additionally make a report when a person is seeking care for injuries related to domestic, sexual, or any nonaccidental violent injury if the patient requests a report be sent, as specified.
Position: Watch
SB 802 (Roth) Licensing boards: disqualification from licensure: criminal conviction.
Status: 7/2/2024–Failed Deadline pursuant to Rule 61(b)(13). (Last location was B.&P. on 5/4/2023)
Summary: Current law provides for the licensure and regulation of various professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Current law authorizes a board to deny a license on the grounds that the applicant or licensee has been subject to formal discipline, as specified, or convicted of a crime substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of the business or profession for which the application is made, as specified. Current law requires a board to notify the applicant in writing, as specified, if a board decides to deny an application for licensure based solely or in part on the applicant's conviction history. This bill contains other existing laws.
Position: Watch
SB 1451 (Ashby) Professions and vocations.
Status: 8/31/2024–Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 38. Noes 0.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
Summary: Current law establishes the Department of Consumer Affairs, which is composed of boards that license and regulate various professions. Current law imposes certain requirements on those boards to expedite licensure processes, waive specified licensing fees, or issue temporary licenses, depending on the criteria that the applicant satisfies. One of those provisions requires, among other things, the applicant to be, or to have been, an active duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States, as specified. Another provision requires that the applicant hold an out-of-state license in that profession or vocation and be married to, or in a domestic partnership or other legal union with, an active duty member of the Armed Forces, as specified. Under a third provision's criteria, the applicant must have been admitted to the United States as a refugee, have been granted asylum, or have a special immigrant visa, as specified. This bill would specify that the term "applicant," for purposes of the above-described provisions, refers to an applicant for an individual license and does not refer to applicants for business or entity licenses. The bill would prohibit a board from charging a fee for the issuance of a temporary license for an applicant who holds an out-of-state license in that profession or vocation and who is married to, or in a domestic partnership or other legal union with, an active duty member of the Armed Forces, as specified.
Position: Watch
SB 1526 (Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development) Consumer affairs.
Status: 8/31/2024–Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending. Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 39. Noes 0.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
Summary: Current law establishes the Department of Consumer Affairs in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency. Current law establishes various entities within the department for the licensure, regulation, and discipline of various professions and vocations. Current law establishes the Professions and Vocations Fund in the State Treasury, which consists of specified special funds and accounts. The Naturopathic Doctors Act establishes the Naturopathic Doctor's Fund in the State Treasury. This bill would include the Naturopathic Doctor's Fund in those special funds and accounts in the Professions and Vocations Fund.
Position: Board Sponsored
