Eyes Now Turn to Newsom After the Legislative Session Concludes
By Kristy Wiese
Legislative Advocate
The 2020 California legislative session adjourned in the early morning hours of September 1 as lawmakers literally battled time to pass bills before the midnight constitutional deadline. Many bills that probably would have passed in a normal, non-COVID-19 year were casualties of the clock and never came up for a vote. Even though legislators had to consider far fewer bills than usual, the legislative calendar was compressed due to an extended summer recess that prevented bill hearings from taking place. Matters were further complicated on the last night of the session as tempers flared among members in the Senate, causing several delays.
Fortunately, CANP’s advocacy, along with the hard work of our 80-plus member of Close the Provider Gap coalition, paid off with AB 890 – the bill that will allow nurse practitioners to practice without physician supervision. It passed out of the Senate on August 31 on a 27-3 vote, then out of the Assembly on a 53-1 vote. Although organized medicine lobbied heavily against the bill in the final days of session, they were unsuccessful and only able to garner four “no” votes.
Compromises continued to be made to pass AB 890 out of the Legislature over the final month of session. Before passing off the floor, it had to clear the Senate Business, Professions & Economic Development (BP&ED) Committee, then the Senate Appropriations Committee “Suspense File.” The opposition was significant but the bill ultimately passed out of both committees. It was amended to delay implementation of independent practice for NPs outside certain health care settings (e.g. hospitals, medical groups, clinics) to January 1, 2023, to give fee authority to the Board of Registered Nursing and to make numerous technical and clarifying changes. These compromises were necessary to ensure passage of the bill. AB 890 is now on the Governor’s desk, who has until September 30 to act on it.
Beyond AB 890, the codification of the Dynamex Decision via AB 5 (Gonzalez, Chpt. 296, 2019) continues to be a priority for CANP. Despite the many implementation hiccups with AB 5 this year, all of the bills that would have made fixes to the law died – including SB 900 (Hill). It was the vehicle that was supposed to contain the health care provider exemptions and a fix to the Business-to-Business provisions of AB 5. Unfortunately, Senator Hill had to pull his bill from the Senate Labor Committee before its hearing, knowing he did not have the votes to pass it, based on opposition from organized labor.
The only AB 5 clean-up bill that passed and was signed was AB 2257 by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (the author of AB 5). It provides some clarifications and exceptions, mostly creating new exemptions for the music industry, freelance writers, architects, and others. The fight on this issue is far from over, however. Uber, DoorDash, and Lyft qualified Prop 22 for the November ballot, which will essentially exempt ride-sharing companies from AB 5 and create a new framework for their drivers as independent contractors. Expect to see additional legislation on this issue in 2021. CANP remains actively engaged in support of an exemption for NPs.
Other bills supported by CANP that passed in the final week of session include SB 1237 (Dodd), which allows certified nurse-midwives to practice independent of a physician’s supervision, and AB 2112 (Ramos), which allows for the creation of an Office of Suicide Prevention under the Department of Public Health. The Governor signed SB 1237 on September 18. AB 2112 is still awaiting his signature.
All eyes are on the Governor as he spends the final days of September considering the more than 300 bills still on his desk – AB 890 among them. CANP is still working tirelessly to secure his approval.