Existing law, the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act, declares the intent of the Legislature to increase the number of students and residents receiving quality education and training in specified primary care specialties and as primary care physician’s assistants, primary care nurse practitioners, and registered nurses.

This bill would require the Department of Health Care Access and Information to maintain a New Nursing Graduate Support and Placement Program to award program grants to community college associate degree of nursing programs, through which support grants would be awarded to recent graduates for loan repayment assistance, relocation, transportation, housing assistance, childcare, and other financial support. The bill would specify grant eligibility criteria for community colleges and recent graduates. The bill would require the department to consider labor standards of hospital sites that employ support grant applicants when determining grant distribution. Under the bill, the program would be funded by a redirection of an unspecified amount provided annually upon appropriation by the Legislature.

This bill would express the intent of the Legislature that funding for programs that train registered nurses be increased, beginning in the 2027–28 fiscal year, by an unspecified amount upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would specify that unencumbered funds that were appropriated for the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act in the Budget Act of 2026 may be used for capacity building and equipment in the 2027–28 fiscal year, upon appropriation by the Legislature.