Board staff briefs students and applicants on Breeze, exams, fingerprints and fees

Board licensing staff presented an expanded licensing outreach update and a step‑by‑step licensing presentation aimed at third‑ and fourth‑year students and applicants.

Erica (licensing staff) and Greg (staff) walked attendees through Breeze (breeze.ca.gov) account creation, the Part 1 law and regulations exam application (application fee $279, of which $275 goes to the board and $4 to the National Practitioner Data Bank), and the Part 2 initial license application (base fee $125 split into TPA, lacrimal and glaucoma certification components). Live Scan (in‑state digital fingerprints) and hard‑card (out‑of‑state ink roll) fingerprinting processes and timing were explained; staff recommended out‑of‑state applicants request a hard card immediately after submitting the Part 1 application to avoid delays.

Staff reminded attendees that NBEO and TMOD scores must show an overall pass for California licensure (California does not require passing every component), that a passing law exam is valid for five years, and that renewals are biennial with a $534 renewal fee ($500 renewal fee, $30 for CURES controlled‑substance reporting, and $4 to the NPDB). New graduates are typically exempt from CE for their first renewal but staff emphasized building CE habits early because licensees will be audited.

Staff also described Breeze improvements — including additional permitted renewals for practice locations and streamlined staff processing for fictitious name permits for corporations — and noted they are moving some mailed correspondence to email where appropriate.