Veterinary medicine: California Veterinary Medical Board.

Assembly Member Berman frames AB 1502 as a comprehensive modernization of California’s veterinary regulatory framework, seeking to extend the California Veterinary Medical Board’s tenure through early 2030 while expanding governance, oversight of practitioners, and the range of regulatory tools available to the board. The proposal maintains the board within the Department of Consumer Affairs and adds a new continuing-education regime, a broader set of licensing and discipline authorities, and a new veterinary assistant permit, while also introducing a tiered fee structure and a university-employee licensing pathway. The measure includes a sunset provision that would keep several provisions in place until January 1, 2030, with certain elements contingent on actions tied to other bills.

The bill restructures governance and oversight by keeping the board’s nine-member composition and adding one additional registered veterinary technician member, while requiring at least one licensed veterinarian to practice equine or livestock care. It also establishes a nine-member Veterinary Medicine Multidisciplinary Advisory Committee, with an explicit advisory role to assist the board in administration, examination, licensure, and enforcement activities. In addition, it broadens regulatory authority over practice standards by authorizing drug compounding under board regulations, expanding veterinarian-client-patient relationship requirements and telehealth restrictions, and creating explicit provisions around telehealth consent, privacy, and prescribing limits.

Key mechanisms include a new veterinary assistant controlled substance permit and a cross-jurisdiction license-verification requirement for applicants, an expanded recordkeeping regime covering patient records and client payments, and a renewed focus on inspections with announced or unannounced visits to premises and a timeliness objective. A comprehensive continuing-education framework is created for both veterinarians and veterinary technicians, detailing minimum hours, acceptable sources, audit rights, and provider-certification requirements, with renewal certifications tied to compliance. The bill also introduces a tiered premises-fee schedule based on the full-time-equivalent number of veterinarians served at a facility, and updates enforcement tools, including higher fines for unlicensed practice and new settlement procedures for administrative actions.

Implementation and regulatory alignment considerations center on sunset sequencing with another bill, the conditional operative status of certain amendments, and no-reimbursement provisions for local agencies. The measure expands disciplinary authorities and creates new penalties, while integrating university licenses for certain employees of the University of California and Western University of Health Sciences. It also contemplates ongoing fee adequacy, administrative-resource needs for audits and recordkeeping, and heightened compliance obligations for licensees, license applicants, and practice premises. Overall, the proposal aims to broaden protections for the public through enhanced transparency, stronger enforcement mechanisms, and a more uniform framework for CE, records, and licensing across veterinary professionals.