SB 1436 Reauthorizes Respiratory Care Board

The Respiratory Care Board of California, a state body tasked with licensing and regulating health care employers who provide respiratory services, has been reauthorized through at least January 1, 2027. This is good news for Respiratory Care Practitioners (RCPs) who provide critical, life-saving care, and whose jobs have only gotten more difficult since the COVID-19 pandemic. These health care heroes are responsible for interviewing, examining, and helping treat patients who have trouble breathing, whether because of COVID-19, or other conditions such as lung cancer, emphysema, asthma, or premature birth. 

The reauthorization of the Respiratory Care Board should help them in at least three ways:

First, Senate Bill 1436 places additional reporting requirements on employers. Where employers previously had to report the suspension or termination for cause of a respiratory care employee to the Board, they now must also report the voluntary resignation of any covered employee. This will help the Board and the state better track staffing shortages. Second, SB 1436 clarifies that the “temporary performance” of respiratory care services by an employee who is not licensed as an RCP is permitted in certain emergency circumstances, such as a pandemic. This helps resolve a common problem that arose during COVID-19, when RCPs were often stretched impossibly thin. Third, SB 1436 permits licensed vocational nurses who are not licensed as RCPs to perform respiratory care services under certain circumstances. Specifically, if the LVN first receives training and demonstrates competency, they may be assigned respiratory duties that only require manual or technical skills but do not require assessment skills.

All three of these changes should help better regulate our state’s respiratory service providers, and ease pressure on RCPs who are faced with enormous workloads and staffing shortages. If you have questions about this legislation, contact your labor law counsel.