The department, with the approval of the Secretary of California Health and Human Services, may contract with any public or private agency for the performance of any of the functions vested in the department by this chapter. Any department of the state is authorized to enter into a contract described in this section.

(commencing with Section 10000) of Division 4 of Title 9 of the California Code of Regulations to align with the Code of Federal Regulations.

Code.

The Legislature finds and declares that it is in the best interests of the health and welfare of the people of this state to coordinate narcotic treatment programs to use narcotic replacement therapy and medication-assisted treatments for substance use disorders in the treatment of addicted persons whose addiction was acquired or supported by the use of a narcotic drug or drugs, not in compliance with a physician and surgeon’s legal prescription, and to establish and enforce minimum requirements for the operation of all these treatment programs in this state.

The following medications are authorized for use in narcotic replacement therapy and medication-assisted treatment by licensed narcotic treatment programs:

the licensee’s catchment area, or clearly demonstrates that other applicants for licensure can provide more efficient, cost-effective, and sufficient narcotic treatment services in the catchment area, or that the license should not be renewed due to one of the grounds that are enumerated in Section 11839.9.

A narcotic treatment program license shall automatically terminate if the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration withdraws or revokes its approval of the program, or if the United States Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, revokes the program’s registration.

Except as provided in Section 11839.16, proceedings for the suspension, revocation, or denial of a license or cessation of review of a renewal license under this article, except where there has been a failure to pay required fees, under this article shall be conducted in accordance with Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 11500) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code and the department shall have all the powers granted thereby. In the event of conflict between this article and the Administrative Procedure Act, the Administrative Procedure Act

shall prevail.

license issued by the department, or its suspension, forfeiture, or cancellation by order of the department or by order of a court of law, or its surrender without the written consent of the department, shall not deprive the department of its authority to institute or continue a disciplinary proceeding against the licensee upon any ground provided by law or to enter an order suspending or revoking the license or otherwise taking disciplinary action against the licensee upon any ground provided by law.

For purposes of this article, a conviction means a plea or verdict of guilty or a conviction following a plea of nolo contendere. Any action that the department is permitted to take following the establishment of a conviction may be taken when the time for appeal has elapsed, or the judgment of conviction has been affirmed on appeal or when an order granting probation is made suspending the imposition of sentence, notwithstanding a subsequent order pursuant to Section 1203.4 or 1203.4a of the Penal Code permitting the person to withdraw his or her plea of

guilty and to enter a plea of not guilty, or setting aside the verdict of guilty, or dismissing the accusation, information, or indictment. For purposes of this article, the record of conviction, or a certified copy thereof, shall be conclusive evidence of the conviction.

The director may bring an action to enjoin the violation of Section 11839.7, or the violation of a departmental order issued pursuant to Section 11839.16, in the superior court in and for the county in which the violation occurred. Any proceeding under this section shall conform to the requirements of Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 525) of Title 7 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The rebuttable presumption set forth in paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 11839.9 shall be applicable. If the court finds the allegations to be true, it shall

issue its order enjoining the narcotic treatment program from continuance of the violation.

(A) Failed to provide adequate security measures over

its narcotic drug supply as agreed in the program’s approved protocol.

(B) Failed to maintain a narcotic drug reconciliation system that accounts for all incoming and outgoing narcotic drugs.

(C) Diverted narcotic drugs.

(D) Repeatedly violated one or more departmental or federal regulations governing narcotic treatment programs, which violations may subject, or may have subjected, a patient to a health or life-endangering situation.

(E) Repeatedly violated one or more departmental or federal regulations governing the provisions of take-home medication.

(F) Operated above combined licensed capacity for maintenance and detoxification programs at a single location.

If the department rejects the corrective action plan, it shall detail its reason in writing. The department order is vacated when the department either accepts a corrective action plan and ensures substantial conformity with the required action set out in the order or fails to reject a plan within 10 working days after receipt of the plan.

action against the program when appropriated for this purpose.

in his or her effort to assure that patient care is not impacted adversely by the suspension order.

license shall constitute an additional ground for license revocation and shall constitute a violation of Section 11839.8. The department shall suspend the program’s license if the hearing outcome is adverse to the license. The department shall notify the program of the license suspension within five days of the director’s final decision.

may assume temporary operation of the closing program or designate another licensed entity willing to do so. This section shall not be construed to require the department or any other licensed entity to assume any of the closing programs’ financial obligations.

Any licensee may petition the director for waiver of licensure fees or late payment penalties for the current fiscal year based upon financial hardship. Prior to the granting of relief, the licensee shall demonstrate hardship by production of appropriate financial records. The director may, in his or her discretion, grant all or part of the relief sought, but shall consider the reasonableness of the relief in light of the other expenditures undertaken by the licensee, giving particular scrutiny to the licensee’s own profits, earnings, or other compensation,

and expenses such as interest, mortgage, or loan payments, as well as noncash expenses such as accruals and depreciation.

The State Department of Health Services shall establish criteria for acceptable performance from those laboratories performing urinalysis or other body fluid analysis and shall not permit utilization of laboratories unable to meet an acceptable level of performance. The results of any performance evaluation of any laboratory shall immediately be made available to the local programs upon request. Nothing in this section shall prohibit body fluid analysis to be performed by a licensed narcotic treatment program upon approval of the State Department of Health

Services.

The state department shall require a system to detect multiple registrations by narcotic treatment program patients.