Substance Abuse Coordination Committee

Overview

SB 1441 (Ridley-Thomas, Chapter 548, Statutes of 2008) created the Substance Abuse Coordination Committee (Committee) under the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA). The Committee was tasked with creating a set of uniform standards to be used by the healing arts boards to deal with substance-abusing licensees in the health care professions.

The final uniform standards, released in 2011, cover a wide range of issues related to substance abuse rehabilitation, including clinical diagnostic evaluation, testing frequency, standard of treatment, consequences for violations, and more.

SB 796 (Hill, Chapter 600, Statutes of 2017) requires DCA to reconvene the Committee to specifically review the existing criteria for Uniform Standard #4 related to drug testing and determine if the standard should be updated.

The Committee is comprised of the executive officers of DCA’s healing arts boards, the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners, the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, and a designee of the State Department of Health Care Services. The director of Consumer Affairs is chair the Committee and may invite individuals or stakeholders who have expertise in the area of substance abuse to advise the Committee.

Important Materials

• Current Uniform Standards
• Original Uniform Standards
• Past Meetings