BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2335|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 2335
Author: Nakanishi (R)
Amended: 6/17/08 in Senate
Vote: 21
SEN. TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 12-0, 6/10/08
AYES: Lowenthal, McClintock, Ashburn, Cedillo, Corbett,
Harman, Hollingsworth, Kehoe, Maldonado
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0 (Passed on Consent), 5/1/08 - See
last page for vote
SUBJECT : Building permit applications
SOURCE : California Building Officials
Contractors State License Board
DIGEST : This bill replaces the existing statutory forms
related to building permits with revised and consolidated
forms.
ANALYSIS : Current law declares an urgent and statewide
public interest in assuring that building contractors
comply with the Contractors License Law and provide
workers' compensation insurance and that property owners
are informed about and protected from fraudulent
representations, liability for worker's injuries, liability
for material and labor costs unpaid by contractors,
licensing requirements, and employer's tax liabilities when
improving their property as owner-builders.
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If a city or county requires a building permit for the
construction, alteration, improvement, demolition, or
repair of any building or structure, current law requires
that the city or county use specified forms to collect
information on the project as well as specified
declarations from the applicant and, if the work is being
done without a licensed contractor, from the property
owner. These forms and declarations include:
1.A Building Project Identification form, which contains
information about the property, the applicant, the owner,
the architect or engineer, and the contractor.
2.The Licensed Contractor Declaration, which certifies that
a contractor has a valid license.
3.The Owner-Builder Declaration, which certifies that the
owner is doing or overseeing the work himself or herself
and is therefore exempt from the Contractors License Law.
4.The Workers' Compensation Declaration, which certifies
that the applicant complies with workers' compensation
requirements or is exempt.
5.The Construction Lending Agency form, which names the
construction lending agency for the performance of the
work.
6.The Owner-Builder Information form, which informs
owner-builders about the risks and liabilities they
assume by getting permits in their names.
7.The Owner-Builder Verification, which verifies that an
Owner-Builder Declaration is in fact correct and was
signed by the property owner.
This bill replaces the existing statutory forms related to
building permits with substantially similar forms that are
revised and consolidated. Specifically, the bill:
1.Repeals existing sections of law containing the Building
Project Identification form, the Licensed Contractor
Declaration, the Owner-Builder Declaration, the Workers'
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Compensation Declaration, the Construction Lending Agency
form, the Owner-Builder Information form, and the
Owner-Builder Verification.
2.Adds a new section of law specifying the contents of a
Permit Application, which shall contain a Building
Project Identification form, a Licensed Contractor
Declaration, an Owner-Builder Declaration, a Worker's
Compensation Declaration, a Declaration Regarding
Construction Lending Agency, and an Authorization of
Agent to Act on Property Owner's Behalf. The new section
also contains a Notice to Property Owner and an Owner's
Acknowledgement and Verification of Information form.
3.Requires an individual who executes an Owner-Builder
Declaration, at the time of execution, to document the
identity of and verify the signature of the property
owner, as opposed to verifying identity at the time the
Owner-Builder Information form is given to the applicant.
4.Revised the various forms and makes the following
substantive changes:
A. Deletes from the Building Project Identification
form the name of the contractor and the portion to be
filled out by the permitting agency related to the
assessor's parcel number, permit number and date, and
the value of the work.
B. Adds to the Owner-Builder Declaration an
acknowledgment that an owner-builder may not sell a
structure that he or she built unless it has been
constructed in its entirety by licensed contractors
or the owner-builder used the structure as a personal
residence for at least one year prior to the
completion of the permitted work.
C. Requires that the Workers' Compensation
Declaration include the expiration date of the policy
and the name and phone number of the insurance agent.
D. Clarifies that a certificate of consent of
self-insure for workers' compensation must be issued
by the Director of the Department of Industrial
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Relations.
E. Creates a new Authorization of Agent to Act on
Property Owner's Behalf that must be signed by the
property owner if the Permit Application or
Owner-Builder Declaration has been executed by a
person other than the property owner.
F. Requires that the Notice to Property Owner appear
on the official letterhead of the permitting agency.
G. Requires a property owner to initial each
individual paragraph of the Owner's Acknowledgement
and Verification of Information form.
H. Adds language to the Owner's Acknowledgement and
Verification of Information form stating that the
property owner may be held liable and subject to
serious financial risk for any injuries sustained by
an unlicensed person and his or her employees while
working on the property and that a homeowner's
insurance policy may not provide coverage for such
injuries. In addition, this bill adds language
stating that the property owner is aware of the
limits of their insurance coverage for injuries to
workers on their property.
I. Adds language to the Owner's Acknowledgement and
Verification of Information form stating that an
owner-builder cannot legally build single-family
residential structures with the intent to sell,
unless all work is performed by licensed
subcontractors and the number of structures does not
exceed four within any calendar year, or all of the
work is performed under contract with a licensed
general building contractor.
J. Adds language to the Owner's Acknowledgement and
Verification of Information form stating that the
Contractor State License Board may not be able to
assist a property owner with any financial loss
sustained as a result of work by an unlicensed
contractor and that the property owner may be held
liable for damages if an unlicensed contractor or
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employee is injured while working on the property.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/17/08)
California Building Officials (co-source)
Contractors State License Board (co-source)
California Spa and Pool Industry Education Council
California State Association of Counties
Solano County Board of Supervisors
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
the current statutes relating to building permit
applications and the corresponding declarations are
redundant and confusing to applicants, property owners, and
building officials alike. As a result, applicants and
property owners tend to sign the forms hastily without
comprehending their full meaning or significance, thereby
frustrating the intent of the forms to communicate the
potential legal and financial liability intrinsic to
owner-builder construction permits. This bill is intended
to place all of the various forms into one section of law
and revise them by using direct language to more clearly
communicate their message.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Aghazarian, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,
Benoit, Berg, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Brownley, Caballero,
Charles Calderon, Carter, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre,
De Leon, DeSaulnier, DeVore, Duvall, Dymally, Emmerson,
Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines,
Galgiani, Garcia, Garrick, Hancock, Hayashi, Hernandez,
Horton, Houston, Huff, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Karnette, Keene, La Malfa, Laird, Leno, Lieber, Lieu, Ma,
Maze, Mendoza, Mullin, Nakanishi, Nava, Niello, Parra,
Plescia, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana,
Silva, Smyth, Solorio, Spitzer, Strickland, Swanson,
Torrico, Tran, Villines, Walters, Wolk, Nunez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Krekorian, Levine, Sharon Runner, Soto
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JJA:cm 6/17/08 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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