BILL NUMBER: SB 797	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Ridley-Thomas

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2007

   An act to amend Sections 7026.1 and 7028 of the Business and
Professions Code, relating to contractors, and making an
appropriation therefor.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 797, as introduced, Ridley-Thomas. Contractors.
   Existing law, the Contractors' State License Law, creates the
Contractors' State License Board within the Department of Consumer
Affairs and provides for the licensure and regulation of contractors.
Existing law defines "contractor" and includes certain persons who
perform tree removal, tree pruning, stump removal, and tree or limb
cabling or guying, except as specified, within that definition.
Existing law requires contractors to pay specified fees, which are
deposited into the continuously appropriated Contractors' License
Fund, and requires the deposit of fines collected under the
Contractors' State License Law into the fund. Existing law, makes it
a misdemeanor for any person to engage in the business or act in the
capacity of a contractor without having a license, and subjects a
person who violates this prohibition to specified fines and
imprisonment.
   This bill would also define "contractor" to include a person who
offers to perform, purport to have the capacity to perform, or
submits a bid to perform tree removal, tree pruning, stump removal,
or tree or limb cabling or guying, except as specified. The bill
would revise the penalties provisions accordingly and would apply
specified penalty provisions to a person named on a revoked license
and held responsible for the act or omission resulting the in the
revocation. Because the bill would increase moneys deposited into the
continuously appropriated Contractors' License Fund, the bill would
make an appropriation. Because the bill would expand the definition
of a contractor and thereby create new crimes, it would impose a
state-mandated local program.
   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 7026.1 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
   7026.1.  The term "contractor" includes all of the following:
   (a) Any person not exempt under Section 7053 who maintains or
services air-conditioning, heating, or refrigeration equipment that
is a fixed part of the structure to which it is attached.
   (b) Any person, consultant to an owner-builder, firm, association,
organization, partnership, business trust, corporation, or company,
who or which undertakes, offers to undertake, purports to have the
capacity to undertake, or submits a bid, to construct any building or
home improvement project, or part thereof.
   (c) A temporary labor service agency that, as the employer,
provides employees for the performance of work covered by this
chapter. The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply if there
is a properly licensed contractor who exercises supervision in
accordance with Section 7068.1 and who is directly responsible for
the final results of the work. Nothing in this subdivision shall
require a qualifying individual, as provided in Section 7068, to be
present during the supervision of work covered by this chapter. A
contractor requesting the services of a temporary labor service
agency shall provide his or her license number to that temporary
labor service agency.
   (d) Any person not otherwise exempt by this chapter, who performs
 , offers to perform, purports to have the capacity to perform,
or submits a bid to perform tree removal, tree pruning, stump
removal, or  engages in  tree or limb cabling or
guying. The term contractor does not include a person performing the
activities of a nurseryperson who in the normal course of routine
work performs incidental pruning of trees, or guying of planted trees
and their limbs. The term contractor does not include a gardener who
in the normal course of routine work performs incidental pruning of
trees measuring less than 15 feet in height after planting.
   (e) Any person engaged in the business of drilling, digging,
boring, or otherwise constructing, deepening, repairing,
reperforating, or abandoning any water well, cathodic protection
well, or monitoring well.
  SEC. 2.  Section 7028 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
   7028.  (a) It is a misdemeanor for any person to engage in the
business or act in the capacity of a contractor within this state
without having a license therefor, unless the person is particularly
exempted from the provisions of this chapter.
   (b) If a person has been previously convicted of the offense
described in this section, unless the provisions of subdivision (c)
are applicable, the court shall impose a fine of 20 percent of the
price of the contract under which the unlicensed person performed
 , or offered to perform,  contracting work, or four
thousand five hundred dollars ($4,500), whichever is greater, and,
unless the sentence prescribed in subdivision (c) is imposed, the
person shall be confined in a county jail for not less than 90 days,
except in an unusual case where the interests of justice would be
served by imposition of a lesser sentence or a fine. If the court
imposes only a fine or a jail sentence of less than 90 days for
second or subsequent convictions under this section, the court shall
state the reasons for its sentencing choice on the record.
   (c) A third or subsequent conviction for the offense described in
this section is punishable by a fine of not less than four thousand
five hundred dollars ($4,500) nor more than the greater amount of
either ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or 20 percent of the contract
price under which the unlicensed person performed  , or offered
to perform,  contracting work or by imprisonment in a county
jail for not more than one year or less than 90 days, or by both that
fine and imprisonment. The penalty provided by this subdivision is
cumulative to the penalties available under all other laws of this
state. 
   (d) A person who violates this section is subject to the penalties
prescribed in subdivision (c) if the person was named on a license
that was previously revoked and, either in fact or under law, was
held responsible for any act or omission resulting in the revocation.
 
   (d) 
    (e)  In the event the person performing the contracting
work has agreed to furnish materials and labor on an hourly basis,
"the price of the contract" for the purposes of this section means
the aggregate sum of the cost of materials and labor furnished and
the cost of completing the work to be performed. 
   (e) 
    (f)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the
contrary, an indictment for any violation of this section by the
unlicensed contractor shall be found or an information or complaint
filed within four years from the date of the contract proposal,
contract, completion, or abandonment of the work, whichever occurs
last.
  SEC. 3.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.