Amended  IN  Assembly  April 20, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2060

Introduced by Assembly Member Quirk

February 14, 2022

An act to amend Sections 2001, 2007, and 2008 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to medicine.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2060, as amended, Quirk. Medical Board of California.
Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, establishes the Medical Board of California for the licensure and regulation of physicians and surgeons and requires the board to have 7 public members.
This bill would increase the number of public members of the board from 7 to 8, would require the first vacant position held by a physician and surgeon occurring on or after January 1, 2023, to become a public member position for that purpose, and would make other conforming changes.
Existing law requires board members to be citizens of this state for the 5 years preceding their appointment to the board and requires at least 4 physician members to hold faculty appointments in a clinical department of an approved medical school in the state.
This bill would instead require board members to be residents of this state for the 5 years preceding their appointment and would decrease the number of physician members that are required to hold specified faculty appointments from 4 to 3 members.
Existing law authorizes the board to carry out disciplinary actions against licensees, authorizes the board to appoint panels of at least 4 members for this purpose, and prohibits a panel from being comprised of more public members than licensed physicians or and surgeons.
This bill would instead prohibit a panel from being comprised of more licensed physicians or surgeons than public members. delete the prohibition against a panel being comprised of more public members than licensed physicians and surgeons.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 2001 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:

2001.
 (a) There is in the Department of Consumer Affairs a Medical Board of California that consists of 15 members, 8 of whom shall be public members.
(b) The Governor shall appoint 13 members to the board, subject to confirmation by the Senate, 6 of whom shall be public members. The Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly shall each appoint a public member.
(c) In order to implement the amendments made by the act that added this subdivision, the first position held by a licensed physician or and surgeon that becomes vacant on or after January 1, 2023, shall be converted to a public member position.
(d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2024, and as of that date is repealed. Notwithstanding any other law, the repeal of this section renders the board subject to review by the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature.

SEC. 2.

 Section 2007 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:

2007.
 Members of the board shall only be appointed from persons who have been residents of this state for at least the five-year period preceding their appointment. Members of the board, except the public members, shall only be appointed from persons licensed as physicians and surgeons in this state. No person who in any manner owns any interest in any college, school, or institution engaged in medical instruction shall be appointed to the board. Three of the physician members of the board shall hold faculty appointments in a clinical department of an approved medical school in the state, but not more than four members of the board may hold full-time appointments to the faculties of such medical schools.
The public members shall not be licensees of the board.

SEC. 3.

 Section 2008 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:

2008.
 The board may appoint panels from its members for the purpose of fulfilling the obligations established in subdivision (c) of Section 2004. Any panel appointed under this section shall at no time be comprised of less fewer than four members and the number of licensed physician and surgeon members assigned to the panel shall not exceed the number of public members assigned to the panel. members. Each panel shall annually elect a chair and a vice chair.