(a) The dental hygiene board shall establish criteria for the acceptance, denial, or termination of licensees in a diversion program. Unless ordered by the dental hygiene board as a condition of a licensee’s disciplinary probation, only those licensees who have voluntarily requested diversion treatment and supervision by a diversion evaluation committee shall participate in a diversion program.

(b) A licensee who is not the subject of a current investigation may self-refer to the diversion program on a confidential basis, except as provided in subdivision (f).

(c) A licensee under current investigation by the dental hygiene board may also request entry into a diversion program by contacting the dental hygiene board. The dental hygiene board may refer the licensee requesting participation in the program to a diversion evaluation committee for evaluation of eligibility. Prior to authorizing a licensee to enter into the diversion program, the dental hygiene board may require the licensee, while under current investigation for any violations of this article or other violations, to execute a statement of understanding that states that the licensee understands that the licensee’s violations of this article or other statutes, that would otherwise be the basis for discipline, may still be investigated and be the subject of disciplinary action.

(d) If the reasons for a current investigation of a licensee are based primarily on the self-administration of any controlled substance or dangerous drugs or alcohol under Section 1951, or the illegal possession, prescription, or nonviolent procurement of any controlled substance or dangerous drugs for self-administration that does not involve actual, direct harm to the public, the dental hygiene board shall close the investigation without further action if the licensee is accepted into the dental hygiene board’s diversion program and successfully completes the requirements of the program. If the licensee withdraws or is terminated from the program by a diversion evaluation committee, the investigation shall be reopened and disciplinary action imposed, if warranted, as determined by the dental hygiene board.

(e) Neither acceptance nor participation in the diversion program shall preclude the dental hygiene board from investigating or continuing to investigate, or taking disciplinary action or continuing to take disciplinary action against, any licensee for any unprofessional conduct committed before, during, or after participation in the diversion program.

(f) All licensees shall sign an agreement of understanding that the withdrawal or termination from the diversion program at a time when a diversion evaluation committee determines the licensee presents a threat to the public’s health and safety shall result in the utilization by the dental hygiene board of diversion treatment records in disciplinary or criminal proceedings.

(g) Any licensee terminated from the diversion program for failure to comply with program requirements is subject to disciplinary action by the dental hygiene board for acts committed before, during, and after participation in the diversion program. A licensee who has been under investigation by the dental hygiene board and has been terminated from the diversion program by a diversion evaluation committee shall be reported by the diversion evaluation committee to the dental hygiene board.

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 456, Sec. 51. (SB 786) Effective January 1, 2020.)