Now that three lawmakers, including State Senator Melissa Hurtado, have introduced bills to increase the Medical Board of California’s accountability to patients, and the medical board itself appealed to legislators to expand its disciplinary power, the agency will soon be the subject of oversight hearings in the State Senate.

On the docket at the hearings is a suite of reforms the board itself proposed in January. Among other changes, the 11-page letter to the legislature from the board’s president and vice president requests a longer waiting period before a doctor can reinstate a revoked or surrendered license, an increase in physicians’ licensing fees, and a lower burden of proof for disciplining doctors.

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