By Jordan Simoes
AB 1502 (Berman), as amended September 3, 2025, extends the California Veterinary Medical Board’s (VMB) sunset date to January 1, 2030. On November 18, 2024, VMB published its Sunset Review report, and the Joint Legislative Committee published its own Background Paper in response.
Since the last Sunset Review, 21 legislative actions have been introduced, largely addressing licensing practices, consumer affairs, and a lengthy bill on teleconferencing in the context of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act. In addition, the board has approved 14 regulatory changes since the last Sunset Review, affecting sections on disciplinary guidelines, registered veterinary technician (RVT) tasks, and other matters.
Teleconferencing. SB 544 (Laird) (Chapter 216, Statutes of 2023) addressed rules and standards for joining VMB meetings virtually. At least one member of the state body must be physically present at each public location where people can join the meetings, and, in certain scenarios, members may join from private locations that do not need to be noted in the meeting notice or agenda. Members must be visible on camera and state, if applicable, the reasons their camera is subsequently turned off. To accommodate the public, it is required that the public attendees can hear and see the meeting successfully and be able to speak remotely during the meeting if they wish. Lastly, the meeting agenda must include information about teleconferencing to the public, detailing instructions on how to join remotely or attend in person.
Board composition. VMB currently has a total of eight board members, including one mandatory RVT. The Board is requesting an amendment to section 4800 of the Business and Professions Code to add another RVT board member position, increasing the total number of board members to nine. The proposed amendment is rooted in the VMB’s appreciation of RVT’s perspectives and insights during decision-making. Additionally, the workload on the single RVT currently on the Board is substantial, and an additional RVT would help reduce this burden.
Application procedures. AB 1502 also sets out necessary tweaks to VMB’s application processing method, including a new automatic notification system for applicants and working with the application system BrEZe to make the entire process more efficient. “BMO 2163” is one product of the Board’s collaboration with BrEZE, a new improvement that allows a single interface to showcase graduation information for veterinary college graduates, rather than the manually entered work the Board once had to do. The Board also mentions that staff members will contact applicants when information is needed or missing to stay ahead of the increasing rate of applications.
Statutory cap. Although the Board’s statutory cap was met in 2020 and was expected to be surpassed in the next Sunset Review, VMB reports that it will not have to increase this cap due to conservative spending and cost-saving efforts over the last four years.
On October 1, 2025, Governor Newsome signed AB 1502 (Chapter 195, Statutes of 2025).