Business and Professions Code Section 2770.7
(a) The board shall establish criteria for the acceptance, denial, or termination of registered nurses in the diversion program. Only those registered nurses who have voluntarily requested to participate in the diversion program shall participate in the program.(b) A registered nurse under current investigation by the board may request entry into the diversion program by contacting the board. Prior to authorizing a registered nurse to enter into the diversion program, the board may require the registered nurse under current investigation for any violations of this chapter or any other provision of this code to execute a statement of understanding that states that the registered nurse understands that his or her violations that would otherwise be the basis for discipline may still be investigated and may be the subject of disciplinary action.
(c) If the reasons for a current investigation of a registered nurse are based primarily on the self-administration of any controlled substance or dangerous drug or alcohol under Section 2762, or the illegal possession, prescription, or nonviolent procurement of any controlled substance or dangerous drug for self-administration that does not involve actual, direct harm to the public, the board shall close the investigation without further action if the registered nurse is accepted into the board's diversion program and successfully completes the requirements of the program. If the registered nurse withdraws or is terminated from the program by a diversion evaluation committee, and the termination is approved by the program manager, the investigation shall be reopened and disciplinary action imposed, if warranted, as determined by the board.
(d) Neither acceptance nor participation in the diversion program shall preclude the board from investigating or continuing to investigate, or taking disciplinary action or continuing to take disciplinary action against, any registered nurse for any unprofessional conduct committed before, during, or after participation in the diversion program.
(e) All registered nurses shall sign an agreement of understanding that the withdrawal or termination from the diversion program at a time when the program manager or diversion evaluation committee determines the licentiate presents a threat to the public's health and safety shall result in the utilization by the board of diversion treatment records in disciplinary or criminal proceedings.
(f) Any registered nurse terminated from the diversion program for failure to comply with program requirements is subject to disciplinary action by the board for acts committed before, during, and after participation in the diversion program. A registered nurse who has been under investigation by the board and has been terminated from the diversion program by a diversion evaluation committee shall be reported by the diversion evaluation committee to the board. [Amended by Stats. 2008, Ch. 548, Sec. 18. Effective January 1, 2009]