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AB-547 Medical Board of California: licensure fees.(2007-2008)

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Enrolled  August 08, 2008
Passed  IN  Senate  July 10, 2008
Passed  IN  Assembly  August 07, 2008
Amended  IN  Senate  July 03, 2008
Amended  IN  Senate  June 16, 2008
Amended  IN  Assembly  January 07, 2008
Amended  IN  Assembly  April 19, 2007

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2007–2008 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 547

Introduced  by  Assembly Member Ma

February 21, 2007

An act to amend Section 2435 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to medicine, and making an appropriation therefor.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 547, Ma. Medical Board of California: licensure fees.
Existing law creates the Medical Board of California to license and regulate physicians and surgeons. Licensees of the board are required to pay licensure fees, including an initial licensing fee of $790 and a biennial renewal fee of $790. Existing law authorizes the board to increase those fees in certain circumstances.
This bill would require those fees to be fixed by the board at a maximum of $790, while retaining the authority of the board to raise those fees in certain circumstances.
This bill, by January 1, 2012, would require the Bureau of State Audits to conduct a review of the board’s financial status, including, but not limited to, a review of the board’s revenue projections, and, on the basis of that review, to report to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee on any adjustment to fees required to maintain a 2-month reserve in the Contingent Fund of the Medical Board of California, a continuously appropriated fund, and also taking into account the projected number of new licensees of the board. The bill would appropriate $135,000 from the Contingent Fund of the Medical Board of California to the Bureau of State Audits for this purpose.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: YES   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 2435 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:

2435.
 The following fees apply to the licensure of physicians and surgeons:
(a) Each applicant for a certificate based upon a national board diplomate certificate, each applicant for a certificate based on reciprocity, and each applicant for a certificate based upon written examination, shall pay a nonrefundable application and processing fee, as set forth in subdivision (b), at the time the application is filed.
(b) The application and processing fee shall be fixed by the board by May 1 of each year, to become effective on July 1 of that year. The fee shall be fixed at an amount necessary to recover the actual costs of the licensing program as projected for the fiscal year commencing on the date the fees become effective.
(c) Each applicant who qualifies for a certificate, as a condition precedent to its issuance, in addition to other fees required herein, shall pay an initial license fee, if any, which fee shall be fixed by the board consistent with this section. The initial license fee shall be a maximum of seven hundred ninety dollars ($790). An applicant enrolled in an approved postgraduate training program shall be required to pay only 50 percent of the initial license fee.
(d) The biennial renewal fee shall be fixed by the board consistent with this section. The biennial renewal fee shall be a maximum of seven hundred ninety dollars ($790).
(e) Notwithstanding subdivisions (c) and (d) and to ensure that subdivision (k) of Section 125.3 is revenue neutral with regard to the board, the board may, by regulation, increase the amount of the initial license fee and the biennial renewal fee by an amount required to recover both of the following:
(1) The average amount received by the board during the three fiscal years immediately preceding July 1, 2006, as reimbursement for the reasonable costs of investigation and enforcement proceedings pursuant to Section 125.3.
(2) Any increase in the amount of investigation and enforcement costs incurred by the board after January 1, 2006, that exceeds the average costs expended for investigation and enforcement costs during the three fiscal years immediately preceding July 1, 2006. When calculating the amount of costs for services for which the board paid an hourly rate, the board shall use the average number of hours for which the board paid for those costs over these prior three fiscal years, multiplied by the hourly rate paid by the board for those costs as of July 1, 2005. Beginning January 1, 2009, the board shall instead use the average number of hours for which it paid for those costs over the three-year period of fiscal years 2005–06, 2006–07, and 2007–08, multiplied by the hourly rate paid by the board for those costs as of July 1, 2005. In calculating the increase in the amount of investigation and enforcement costs, the board shall include only those costs for which it was eligible to obtain reimbursement under Section 125.3 and shall not include probation monitoring costs and disciplinary costs, including those associated with the citation and fine process and those required to implement subdivision (b) of Section 12529 of the Government Code.
(f) Notwithstanding Section 163.5, the delinquency fee shall be 10 percent of the biennial renewal fee.
(g) The duplicate certificate and endorsement fees shall each be fifty dollars ($50), and the certification and letter of good standing fees shall each be ten dollars ($10).
(h) It is the intent of the Legislature that, in setting fees pursuant to this section, the board shall seek to maintain a reserve in the Contingent Fund of the Medical Board of California equal to approximately two months’ operating expenditures.
(i) Not later than January 1, 2012, the Bureau of State Audits (BSA) shall conduct a review of the board’s financial status, including, but not limited to, a review of the board’s revenue projections. The BSA shall, on the basis of the review, report to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee on any adjustment to the fees imposed by this section required to maintain the reserve in the Contingent Fund of the Medical Board of California as provided by subdivision (h), and also taking into account the projected number of new licensees of the board.

SEC. 2.

 The sum of one hundred thirty-five thousand dollars ($135,000) is hereby appropriated from the Contingent Fund of the Medical Board of California to the Bureau of State Audits for the purposes of conducting the review and issuing the report required pursuant to subdivision (i) of Section 2435 of the Business and Professions Code.