SB 520

This bill makes changes, described as follows, regarding the authority of certain

credentialing boards in the Department of Safety and Professional Services:

1. The bill allows the Medical Examining Board (MEB), the Podiatry Affiliated

Credentialing Board, the Board of Nursing, the Dentistry Examining Board, and the

Optometry Examining Board to each issue guidelines regarding best practices in

prescribing controlled substances for persons credentialed by that board who are

authorized to prescribe controlled substances.

2. With certain exceptions, current law requires the MEB to examine each

applicant it finds eligible in such subject matters as it deems applicable to the class

of license or certificate that the applicant seeks to have granted, and provides that

examinations may be both written and oral. As an exception to this, however, current

law provides that when examining an applicant for a physician license, the MEB may

only use examinations prepared, administered, and scored by national examining

agencies, except that it may interview an individual applicant as needed to

determine information specific to that applicant.

This bill eliminates this exception providing that the MEB may only use

examinations prepared, administered, and scored by national examining agencies

with respect to applicants for physician licenses.