CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS

DCA's stated mission is to serve the interests of California's consumers by ensuring a standard of professionalism in key industries and promoting informed consumer practices. The DCA provides the public with information on safe consumer practices, in an effort to protect the public from unscrupulous or unqualified people who promote deceptive products or services. DCA licenses or certifies practitioners in more than 255 professions. There are currently more than 2.4 million practitioners licen... sed by the DCA. The Department consists of more than 40 bureaus, boards, committees, commission, and other entities that license and regulate practitioners. Regulatory duties include investigating complaints against licensees and disciplining violators. Boards, committees, and commissions operate independently but rely on DCA for administrative support. In 2015, an investigation was launched by the DCA's Division of Investigation into the Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians. An unknown number of Enforcement cases were illegally mishandled and private data from those cases was illegally shared. This event prompted the CA Legislature to make unprecedented changes to the BVNPT's enforcement authority in bills AB 179 & AB 1229. Further public releases about this incident have been scant. As of 3/7/18, those nurses and psychiatric technicians have not been notified that their cases were mishandled and private data shared. Fees paid by licensees fund DCA operations almost exclusively. Bureaus, programs, divisions, and offices are under the full control of DCA.More