The following fees apply to the licensure of physicians and surgeons:
(a) Each applicant for a certificate based upon a national board diplomate certificate, each applicant for a certificate based on reciprocity, and each applicant for a certificate based upon written examination, shall pay a nonrefundable application and processing fee, as set forth in subdivision (b), at the time the application is filed.
(b) The application and processing fee shall be fixed by the board by May 1 of each year, to become effective on July 1 of that year. The fee shall be fixed at an amount necessary to recover the actual costs of the licensing program as projected for the fiscal year commencing on the date the fees become effective.
(c) Each applicant who qualifies for a certificate, as a condition precedent to its issuance, in addition to other fees required herein, shall pay an initial license fee, if any, in an amount fixed by the board consistent with this section. The initial license fee shall not exceed seven hundred ninety dollars ($790). An applicant enrolled in an approved postgraduate training program shall be required to pay only 50 percent of the initial license fee.
(d) The biennial renewal fee shall be fixed by the board consistent with this section and shall not exceed seven hundred ninety dollars ($790).
(e) Notwithstanding Section 163.5, the delinquency fee shall be 10 percent of the biennial renewal fee.
(f) The duplicate certificate and endorsement fees shall each be fifty dollars ($50), and the certification and letter of good standing fees shall each be ten dollars ($10).
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that, in setting fees pursuant to this section, the board shall seek to maintain a reserve in the Contingent Fund of the Medical Board of California in an amount not less than two nor more than four months’ operating expenditures.
(h) Not later than January 1, 2012, the Office of State Audits and Evaluations within the Department of Finance shall commence a preliminary review of the board’s financial status, including, but not limited to, its projections related to expenses, revenues, and reserves, and the impact of the loan from the Contingent Fund of the Medical Board of California to the General Fund made pursuant to the Budget Act of 2008. The office shall make the results of this review available upon request by June 1, 2012. This review shall be funded from the existing resources of the office during the 2011–12 fiscal year.
(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 775, Sec. 81. (SB 798) Effective January 1, 2018.)