BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Patricia Wiggins, Chair
BILL NO: AB 307 HEARING: 6/17/09
AUTHOR: Cook FISCAL: No
VERSION: 6/10/09 CONSULTANT: Detwiler
LOCAL BUSINESS LICENSES
Background and Existing Law
After three children died in traffic accidents associated
with ice cream trucks, the Legislature passed the "Destiny
Nicole Stout Memorial Act" and required ice cream trucks to
carry large warning signs and banned vending on streets
with speed limits greater than 25 miles an hour (SB 2185,
Soto, 2000). When operating in residential areas, state
law requires commercial food vending vehicles to be stopped
and lawfully parked. However, cities and counties can
adopt additional public safety regulations regarding the
time, place, and manner of selling food from commercial
food vending vehicles (AB 2588, Calderon, 2008).
State law allows cities and counties to regulate businesses
by requiring local business licenses. Before cities and
counties can issue local business licenses to contractors,
they must verify that the person holds a state license from
the Contractors' State License Board (AB 2823, Harvey,
1996). State law also allows cities and counties to use
local business licenses to regulate massage parlors. If a
city or county regulates massage parlors, state law
requires local officials to deny a business license to a
massage parlor if the owner or operators must register as
sex offenders (AB 665, Salinas, 2005).
The "Sex Offender Registration Act" requires everyone who
has been convicted of specific crimes to register with
local law enforcement officials "for the rest of his or her
life while residing in California." It is a misdemeanor
for a registered sex offender whose victim was under 16
years of age to be an employer, employee, independent
contractor, or volunteer in a capacity where the registered
sex offender works directly and in an unaccompanied setting
with minor children on more than an incidental or
occasional basis (AB 1900, Lieu, 2006).
In 2008, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors
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amended its business license ordinance to require
applicants to disclose whether they or their employees must
register as sex offenders. After investigation by the
County Sheriff and the County's Environmental Health
Services Division, County officials can issue business
licenses only to applicants and employees who don't have to
register as sex offenders. The licensees and their
employees must carry their business licenses and government
issued photo identification while working.
Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 307 prohibits a city or a county from issuing
a business license to operate an ice cream truck to a
registered sex offender whose victim was under 16 years of
age.
Comments
1. Safety first . The 2000 Destiny Nicole Stout Memorial
Act, the 2006 Lieu bill, and San Bernardino County's 2008
ordinance show that state legislators and local elected
officials worry about children's safety around ice cream
trucks and their drivers. The bright anticipation of
neighborhood kids waiting for the ice cream truck shouldn't
be darkened by the fear of dangerous drivers. AB 307
enlists cities and counties' business license regulations
to keep registered sex offenders away from vulnerable
children. Just like the 1996 Harvey bill and the 2005
Salinas bill, legislators can harness local business
license reviews to screen out people who shouldn't be
working certain jobs.
2. Won't work . Cities and counties don't issue individual
work permits, they license businesses. The person who owns
the ice cream truck and holds a local business license may
not be the person who drives the truck along city streets
and county roads. AB 307 may prevent a registered sex
offender from getting a local business license for an ice
cream truck, but it won't prevent a registered sex offender
from driving the owner's licensed ice cream truck. Unless
a state law --- or a local ordinance like the one in San
Bernardino County --- requires every ice cream vendor to
pass a background check, there's no easy way to use local
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business licenses to screen out registered sex offenders.
The Committee may wish to consider whether the potential
for future sex crimes is sufficient to require individual
work permits for all California ice cream truck drivers.
3. Alternatives available . Rather than use a state law to
mandate local business license offices to keep registered
sex offenders away from ice cream trucks, the Committee may
wish to consider these alternative approaches:
Oklahoma's option. Other state legislatures have
recently passed laws to keep registered sex offenders out
of ice cream trucks. A new Oklahoma law, signed by
Governor Brad Henry on June 2, requires ice cream companies
to conduct annual name searches against the state's index
of registered sex offenders and then maintain proof that
their drivers aren't sex offenders. Drivers must carry
notarized statements that they are not required to
register. Failure to comply is a misdemeanor (SB 1020,
Nichols, et al.). The Committee may wish to put the
paperwork burden on the employer and the employees instead
of on local officials.
Clarify the Lieu law. Under the 2006 Lieu bill, it's
already a crime for a registered sex offender whose victim
was under 16 to work directly with kids in an unsupervised
setting. If legislators think that law doesn't apply to
ice cream truck drivers, the Committee may wish to clarify
that statute instead of relying on local business licenses.
Local control. As the San Bernardino County ordinance
shows, local elected officials can already prevent
registered sex offenders from getting food vendor permits.
The San Bernardino County ordinance requires its Sheriff to
investigate all license applications by peddlers and
solicitors. But several county sheriffs want state
legislators to rely on local business license workers to
screen out registered sex offenders. The Committee may
wish to leave this problem up to local elected officials.
4. Related bills . AB 307 is similar, but not identical,
to AB 2169 (Cook, 2008) which would have prohibited local
officials from granting ice cream truck business licenses
to registered sex offenders but also would have required
the State Sex Offender Management Board to study the need
for state preemption. AB 307 doesn't contain the study
requirement. The 2008 Cook bill died on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee's suspense file. Earlier this
year, the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic
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Development Committee passed SB 496 (Maldonado) to deny
state real estate licenses to registered sex offenders. On
a double-referral, the Senate Public Safety Committee
defeated SB 496, but granted reconsideration.
5. Double referred . The Senate Rules Committee referred
AB 307 to two policy committees. First to the Senate Local
Government Committee because the bill affects local
business licenses, and then to the Senate Public Safety
Committee which reviews sex crime bills. The 2006 Lieu
bill went to the Senate Public Safety Committee.
Assembly Actions
Assembly Business & Professions Committee:10-0
Assembly Floor: 75-0
Support and Opposition (6/11/09)
Support : County of San Bernardino, California District
Attorneys Association, California State Sheriffs'
Association, Mothers Against Sexual Predators, County
Sheriffs of Alameda, Amador, Butte, Contra Costa, El
Dorado, Fresno, Mariposa, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San
Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Tuolumne,
Ventura, Yolo.
Opposition : Unknown.