Respiratory Care Practice Act

The law keeps the Respiratory Care Board operating for four more years while broadening where licensed vocational nurses can deliver specified respiratory care. It also strengthens automatic discipline for respiratory-care practitioners convicted of certain serious felonies.

What the law does ​

• Extends the Respiratory Care Board of California and its executive officer through January 1, 2031.
• Sets respiratory-care license renewal fees at $330 and allows the board to raise them by regulation up to $375.
• Requires new license applicants to pass the National Board for Respiratory Care’s Respiratory Therapy Examination at the level needed for Registered Respiratory Therapist credentials.
• Requires automatic suspension, followed by revocation when final, for practitioners convicted of specified serious felonies or sex-related offenses, subject to an interest-of-justice exception and reversal if the conviction is overturned.
• Allows trained licensed vocational nurses to perform specified respiratory tasks in more care settings, including residential facilities, day programs, hospice, home health, and private-duty care.
• Authorizes licensed vocational nurses to perform specified oral, nasal, and tracheostomy suctioning tasks, including under school-nurse supervision for basic respiratory services.
• Clarifies that collecting, documenting, and reporting observations without clinical analysis or decisionmaking is not respiratory care practice.

Who it affects ​

• Respiratory care practitioners and applicants for respiratory-care licenses.
• Licensed vocational nurses, their employers, and facilities where they provide respiratory services.
• Patients receiving respiratory care in schools, homes, residential settings, and health facilities.

Context ​

The expanded vocational-nurse authority requires employer-approved patient-specific training before 2028 and board-guided task-specific and patient-specific training beginning in 2028.