BILL ANALYSIS
AB 645
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Date of Hearing: April 14, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS
Mary Hayashi, Chair
AB 645 (Niello) - As Introduced: February 25, 2009
SUBJECT : Professional engineers and land surveyors: licensing.
SUMMARY : Extends the licensure renewal period for professional
engineers and land surveyors and doubles the maximum amounts of
the license application fees. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires licenses issued by the Board of Professional
Engineers and Land Surveyors (Board) to be renewed every four
years instead of every two years.
2)Increases the maximum fee for filing an application for
licensure as a professional engineer or land surveyor from
$400 to $800.
3)Increases the maximum fee for filing an application for
certification as an engineer-in-training or a land
surveyor-in-training from $100 to $200.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides for the licensure and regulation of professional
engineers and land surveyors by the Board, and requires
licenses issued by the Board to be renewed every two years.
2)Authorizes the Board to fix license application fees, up to
specified amounts, and provides for other related fees, the
amounts of which are based on the amount of the application
fees.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Purpose of this bill . According to the author's office,
"Current statute requires professional engineers to be
re-licensed every two years. The extended length of today's
project delivery timelines means that many design professionals
and surveyors must be re-licensed midstream during the project
approval process. Re-licensing in the middle of a project
AB 645
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requires the duplication, re-stamping and re-certification of
hundreds or thousands of pages of design documents and
subdivision maps, among others. This is an unnecessary
duplication that adds time and expense to the delivery of
projects in California."
Background . Prior to 2003, the Board renewed professional
licenses on a four year basis. In 2003 the Board amended its
regulations to require a two year renewal period for
professional licenses and increased the associated fees in
accordance with SB 136 (Figueroa), Chapter 495, Statutes of
2001. The Assembly Business and Professions Committee's 2001
analysis of SB 136 suggests that bill's primary purpose was to
generate additional revenue stating, "According to the author,
there is a critical need for the fee increase contained in this
bill pertaining to the Board of Professional Engineers and Land
Surveyors. According to BPELS, the fee increases will prevent
BPELS from accumulating a $1.7 million deficit by fiscal year
2003-04. By increasing the licensing and certification fees,
BPELS will be able to continue to support current examination
processes and enforcement programs."
Because this bill doubles both the applications fees and the
renewal period, it does not increase the overall cost of
professional engineering licensure. However, doubling the
application fee does potentially double other related fees. The
maximum fees for a temporary authorization for a professional
engineer, a retired license, and a delinquent licensure renewal
are all defined as a percentage of the current application fee.
Support . The bill's sponsor, the American Council of
Engineering Companies of California (ACEC California), states,
"ACEC California has been receiving feedback from our members
that the shortened renewal period, coupled with longer timelines
in both private and public sector project delivery, are
resulting in situations where licensure renewal occurs midstream
in the project lifecycle.
"Under the current conditions, licenses expire prior to the
completion of many projects. Many times plans have to be
reprinted, signed and sealed solely due to license expirations.
This is both time consuming and costly. A four year licensure
renewal period would eliminate a tremendous amount of this
avoidable redundancy.
AB 645
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"It is our intention to provide statutory changes that will
extend the licensure renewal period back to four years, and
enable the Board to commensurately double the licensure renewal
fee. It is also our intention to ensure that there is no loss
of revenue to the Board as a result of this action, and that
there is no increase in the cost of professional renewal on the
professional community."
Previous Legislation . SB 136 (Figueroa), Chapter 495, Statutes
of 2001, increased the application-filing fee for registration
and application for authority level designation as a
professional engineer to $400 every two years (instead of $175
every four years), increased the fee for certification as an
engineer-in-training to be not more than $100 (instead of $60),
increased the application-filing fee for licensure as a land
surveyor to be not more than $400 (instead of $175), and
increased the fee for certification as a land
surveyor-in-training to be not more than $100 (instead of $60).
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
American Council of Engineering Companies of California
(sponsor)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Whitney Clark / B. & P. / (916)
319-3301