AB 2391

AB2391:v97#DOCUMENT

Bill Start

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2391

An act to amend Section 128200 of, and to add Article 6 (commencing with Section 128075) to Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 107 of, the Health and Safety Code, relating to health care.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2391, as amended, Ahrens. Health care: workforce training programs.

Existing law, the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act, declares the intent of the Legislature to increase the number of students and residents receiving quality education and training in specified primary care specialties and as primary care physician’s assistants, primary care nurse practitioners, and registered nurses.

This bill would require the Department of Health Care Access and Information to maintain a New Nursing Graduate Support and Placement Program to award program grants to community college associate degree of nursing programs, through which support grants would be awarded to recent graduates for loan repayment assistance, relocation, transportation, housing assistance, childcare, and other financial support. The bill would specify grant eligibility criteria for community colleges and recent graduates. The bill would require the department to consider labor standards of hospital sites that employ support grant applicants when determining grant distribution. Under the bill, the program would be funded by a redirection of an unspecified amount provided annually Implementation of these provisions would be contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature.

This bill would also express the intent of the Legislature that funding for to support and strengthen existing programs that train registered nurses be increased, beginning in the 2027–28 fiscal year, by an unspecified amount upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would specify that unencumbered funds that were appropriated for under the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act in the Budget Act of 2026 may be used for capacity building and equipment in the 2027–28 fiscal year, upon appropriation by the Legislature. Act.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

Bill Text

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

SECTION 1.

Article 6 (commencing with Section 128075) is added to Chapter 2 of Part 3 of Division 107 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:

Article 6. New Nursing Graduate Support and Placement Program

128075.

For purposes of this article:

(a) “Department” means the Department of Health Care Access and Information.

(b) “Program” means the New Nursing Graduate Support and Placement Program established pursuant to Section 128076.

(c) “Program development” includes activities related to collaborations between the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the department.

(d) “Recent graduate” means an individual who is either of the following:

(1) Currently enrolled and in the last semester of a community college associate degree of nursing program.

(2) Graduated from a community college associate degree of nursing program within the past three years.

(e) “Support grant” means a grant that is direct gift aid to recent graduates.

(f) “Underserved area” means an area with high need for registered nurses and may include medically underserved areas as designated by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration, rural areas, areas with a high number of Medi-Cal patients, or an underserved area as designated by the department.

128076.

(a) The department shall maintain a New Nursing Graduate Support and Placement Program for the purposes of providing funding to community college associate degree of nursing programs to do all of the following:

(1) Improve employment outcomes and provide support for recent graduates.

(2) Ensure equitable access to the nursing profession and remove employment barriers for associate degree of nursing program graduates.

(3) Increase the number of registered nurses to provide direct care to the people of California, especially in underserved areas and populations.

(4) Facilitate postlicensure job placements in underserved areas for recent graduates in coordination with labor organizations that represent direct care registered nurses.

(5) Provide support grants to recent graduates for loan repayment assistance, relocation, transportation, housing assistance, childcare, and other financial support as determined by the department to incentivize employment of recent graduates in underserved areas.

(b) The department may award program grants to community college districts with associate degree of nursing programs pursuant to this section. Program grants shall be used only for purposes in subdivision (a), including for loan repayment assistance, housing assistance, childcare, transportation, or relocation.

(c) To qualify for program grants, a community college associate degree of nursing program shall commit to implement a comprehensive program of postlicensure job placements and administration of support grants to recent graduates.

(d) Before awarding a program grant, the department shall develop both of the following:

(1) Criteria for determining if hospital sites meet the registered nursing workforce needs of the state’s rural and underserved areas, in collaboration with community college associate degree of nursing programs.

(2) Structure for a program to provide support grants for recent graduates, including application criteria, prescribing the form and regulating the submission of applications, determining the eligibility of applicants, and awarding the support grants.

(e) As a condition of receiving a program grant, a community college district, in collaboration with community college associate degree of nursing programs, shall, at a minimum, do all of the following:

(1) Partner with labor organizations representing direct care registered nurses to develop an outreach plan to prospective hospital sites based on labor standards described in subdivision (f).

(2) Select hospital sites that best demonstrate the ability to provide workplaces with labor standards described in subdivision (f) and to meet the needs of rural and underserved areas based on criteria developed pursuant to subdivision (d).

(3) Enter into agreements with selected hospital sites for placing recent graduates.

(4) Incentivize postlicensure employment in underserved areas by providing a renewable support grant to recent graduates.

(5) Facilitate postlicensure employment by holding at least two on-campus events per academic year at which selected hospital sites may conduct interviews of recent graduates.

(6) Report to the chancellor’s office on a date determined by the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges all of the following data for each academic year:

(A) The number of recent graduates who secured postlicensure employment through their clinical placements.

(B) The number of recent graduates who secured postlicensure employment through the job placement program and not through their clinical placements.

(C) The number of recent graduates who did not secure employment postlicensure through either their clinical placements or the job placement program.

(f) For the purposes of determining grant distribution pursuant to this section, the department shall consider all of the following labor standards of hospital sites that employ support grant applicants:

(1) If the hospital site’s registered nurses are represented by a labor organization.

(2) If the hospital site provides fair compensation to registered nurses, which may be measured by using wage estimates for registered nurses as produced by the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program under the Employment Development Department.

(3) If the hospital site provides strong retention practices.

(4) If the hospital site does not use restrictive employment terms, including sign-on bonuses that require repayment if employment ends before the contract term.

128077.

(a) To qualify for a support grant pursuant to this article, an applicant shall be either be currently enrolled and in the last semester of a community college associate degree of nursing program or have graduated from a community college associate degree of nursing program within the past three years.

(b) A support grant recipient may use a support grant for purposes that include housing assistance, childcare, transportation, or relocation. The amount of a support grant award for each recent graduate shall be at least ____ dollars ($____), not to exceed ____ dollars ($____).

(c) If the number of qualified applicants in a year exceeds the number of support grants to be awarded, the department, in consultation with community college district districts with associate degree of nursing programs, shall consider the following factors in granting priority when awarding support grants:

(1) Financial need, as shown on a standardized financial needs assessment used by community college associate degree of nursing programs.

(2) Life experiences or special circumstances, as described in subdivision (b) of Section 78261.5 of the Education Code.

(3) Living in an underserved area.

128078.

(a)It is the intent of the Legislature that the program be funded, beginning in the 2027–28 fiscal year, by a redirection of ____ dollars ($____) provided annually upon appropriation by the Legislature. Unencumbered funds that were appropriated in the Budget Act of 2026 may be used for capacity building and equipment in the 2027–28 fiscal year, upon appropriation by the Legislature.

(b)Up to ____ percent of the funds appropriated for this program may be used for statewide administration, program development, program evaluation, and program accountability. As used in this article, “program development” includes, but is not limited to, activities related to collaborations between the office of the chancellor and the Department of Health Care Access and Information.

128078. Implementation of this article shall be contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature.

SEC. 2.

Section 128200 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:

128200.

(a) This article shall be known, and may be cited, as the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act.

(b) (1) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that physicians engaged in family medicine are in very short supply in California. The current emphasis placed on specialization in medical education has resulted in a shortage of physicians trained to provide comprehensive primary health care to families. The Legislature hereby declares that it regards the furtherance of a greater supply of competent family physicians to be a public purpose of great importance and further declares the establishment of the program pursuant to this article to be a desirable, necessary, and economical method of increasing the number of family physicians to provide needed medical services to the people of California. The Legislature further declares that it is to the benefit of the state to assist in increasing the number of competent family physicians graduated by colleges and universities of this state to provide primary health care services to families within the state.

(2) The Legislature finds that the shortage of family physicians can be improved by the placing of a higher priority by public and private medical schools, hospitals, and other health care delivery systems in this state, on the recruitment and improved training of medical students and residents to meet the need for family physicians. To help accomplish this goal, each medical school in California is encouraged to organize a strong family medicine program or department. It is the intent of the Legislature that the programs or departments be headed by a physician who possesses specialty certification in the field of family medicine, and has broad clinical experience in the field of family medicine.

(3) The Legislature further finds that encouraging the training of primary care physician’s assistants and primary care nurse practitioners will assist in making primary health care services more accessible to the citizenry, and will, in conjunction with the training of family physicians, lead to an improved health care delivery system in California.

(4) Community hospitals in general and rural community hospitals in particular, as well as other health care delivery systems, are encouraged to develop family medicine residencies in affiliation or association with accredited medical schools, to help meet the need for family physicians in geographical areas of the state with recognized family primary health care needs. Utilization of expanded resources beyond university-based teaching hospitals should be emphasized, including facilities in rural areas wherever possible.

(5) The Legislature also finds and declares that nurses are in very short supply in California. The Legislature hereby declares that it regards the furtherance of a greater supply of nurses to be a public purpose of great importance and further declares the expansion of the program pursuant to this article to include nurses to be a desirable, necessary, and economical method of increasing the number of nurses to provide needed nursing services to the people of California.

(c) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide for a program designed primarily to increase the number of students and residents receiving quality education and training in the primary care specialties of family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics and as primary care physician’s assistants, primary care nurse practitioners, and registered nurses and to maximize the delivery of primary care family physician services to specific areas of California where there is a recognized unmet priority need. This program is intended to be implemented through contracts with accredited medical schools, teaching health centers, programs that train primary care physician’s assistants, programs that train primary care nurse practitioners, programs that train registered nurses, hospitals, and other health care delivery systems based on per-student or per-resident capitation formulas. It is further intended by the Legislature that the programs will be professionally and administratively accountable so that the maximum cost-effectiveness will be achieved in meeting the professional training standards and criteria set forth in this article and Article 2 (commencing with Section 128250).

(d)It is the intent of the Legislature that funding for programs that train registered nurses be increased, beginning in the 2027–28 fiscal year, by a redirection of ____ dollars ($____) upon appropriation by the Legislature. Unencumbered funds that were appropriated for purposes of this act in the Budget Act of 2026 may be used for capacity building and equipment in the 2027–28 fiscal year, upon appropriation by the Legislature.

(d) It is the intent of the Legislature to support and strengthen existing programs that train registered nurses under this article, and to ensure that these programs are appropriately supported to meet the state’s nursing workforce needs, including in rural and medically underserved communities.