(a) The department shall issue a clinical chemist, clinical microbiologist, clinical toxicologist, clinical genetic molecular biologist, or clinical cytogeneticist license to each person who has applied for the license on forms provided by the department, who is a lawful holder of a master of science or doctoral degree in the specialty for which the applicant is seeking a license, and who has met such additional reasonable qualifications of training, education, and experience as the department may establish by regulations. The department shall issue an oral and maxillofacial pathologist license to every applicant for licensure who has applied for the license on forms provided by the department, who is a registered Diplomate of the American Board of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, and who meets any additional and reasonable qualifications of training, education, and experience as the department may establish by regulation.

(b) The graduate education shall have included 30 semester hours of coursework in the applicant’s specialty. Applicants possessing only a master of science degree shall have the equivalent of one year of full-time, directed study or training in procedures and principles involved in the development, modification, or evaluation of laboratory methods, including training in complex methods applicable to diagnostic laboratory work. Each applicant shall have had one year of training in his or her specialty in a clinical laboratory acceptable to the department and three years of experience in his or her specialty in a clinical laboratory, two years of which must have been at a supervisory level. The education shall have been obtained in one or more established and reputable institutions maintaining standards equivalent, as determined by the department, to those institutions accredited by an agency acceptable to the department. The department shall determine by examination that the applicant is properly qualified. Examinations, training, or experience requirements for specialty licenses shall cover only the specialty concerned.

(c) The department may issue licenses without examination to applicants who have passed examinations of other states or national accrediting boards whose requirements are equal to or greater than those required by this chapter and regulations established by the department. The evaluation of other state requirements or requirements of national accrediting boards shall be carried out by the department with the assistance of representatives from the licensed groups. This section does not apply to persons who have passed an examination by another state or national accrediting board before the establishment of requirements that are equal to or exceed those of this chapter or regulations of the department.

(d) The department may issue licenses without examination to applicants who had met standards of education and training, defined by regulations, before the date of the adoption of implementing regulations.

(e) The department shall adopt regulations to conform to this section.

(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 86, Sec. 2. (SB 1171) Effective January 1, 2017.)