BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1431|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1431
Author: Hill (D)
Amended: 4/27/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BUS., PROF. & ECON. DEVEL. COMMITTEE : 8-0, 3/22/10
AYES: Negrete McLeod, Wyland, Aanestad, Correa, Florez,
Oropeza, Walters, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Calderon
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 68-0, 1/27/10 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Geologists and geophysicists
SOURCE : Professional Engineers in California Government
DIGEST : This bill renames the Board for Professional
Engineers and Land Surveyors, and increases the Board
membership from 13 to 15 by adding a licensed geologist or
geophysicist to the Board, and one public member.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law
1. Licenses and regulates engineers and land surveyors by
the Board for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors
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(Board) within the Department of Consumer Affairs.
2. Provides that the Board is made up of 13 members,
consisting of six professional members (five engineers
and one land surveyor) and seven public members.
A. The Governor appoints five public members and the six
professional members.
B. The Senate Rules Committee and the Speaker of the
Assembly each appoint a public member.
3. Establishes, effective October 23, 2009, that the Board
shall succeed to and is vested with all the duties,
powers, purposes, responsibilities, and jurisdiction
previously vested in the Board for Geologists and
Geophysicists (BGG), thereby requiring the Board to
administer the Geologists and Geophysicists Act.
This bill:
1. Renames the Board as the Board for Professional
Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists.
2. Increases the membership of the Board from 13 to 15 by
adding a professional member licensed under the
Geologist and Geophysicist Act, and one public member
appointed by the Governor.
3. Makes technical, conforming and clarifying changes.
Background
Hearing on Governor's Elimination, Consolidation and
Reorganization Proposals . In the summer of 2009, the
Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development
Committee (Committee) convened a hearing on the Governor's
Elimination, Consolidation and Reorganization Proposals
made in the May Revision of the 2009-2010 State Budget.
The Budget Conference Committee had requested that the
Committee consider a number of the specific elimination,
consolidation and reorganization proposals made by the
Governor, as well as other consolidation proposals
identified by the Committee. In the hearing, the Committee
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received testimony from the Administration, the
departments, boards and bureaus that will be affected by
the proposed changes, the Legislative Analyst's Office
(LAO), the Center for Public Interest Law, professional
associations, members of the regulated professions, and
members of the public. The Committee made its
recommendations in a Report to the Conference Committee.
Those recommendations and the legislative changes necessary
to implement the recommendations were the bases for ABX4 20
(Strickland), Chapter 18, Statutes of 2009.
At that hearing, the Committee considered 13 separate
consolidation or elimination proposals, including whether
the BGG should be consolidated with the State Mining and
Geology Board. That proposal was approved on an 8-1 vote.
Ultimately, during Budget negotiations, that recommendation
was modified to consolidate the Board of Geologists and
Geophysicists with the Board for Professional Engineers and
Land Surveyors. Those changes were included in ABX4 20.
Background on Consolidation Efforts . Over that last
fifteen years, a number of efforts have been made to merge
or consolidate the BGG into other regulatory agencies. In
1994, the Senate Business and Professions Committee
initially reviewed whether the BGG should be merged with
another entity including the Board. At that time, no
changes were made to BGG. In 1996 and again in 1999, the
Joint Legislative Sunset Review Committee (Sunset Review
Committee) and DCA reviewed the Geology Board and both DCA
and the Sunset Review Committee recommended BGG be
continued as an independent board and not be combined with
any other entity.
In 2004, the Governor's California Performance Review (CPR)
recommendation was to combine BGG with the Board of Mining
and Geology and place the new board under the Division of
Land Management within the proposed new Department of
Natural Resources. LAO and the Administration's CPR
Commission rejected this proposal. The Governor's
Reorganization Plan which included converting the BGG to a
bureau was rejected by the Legislature, and ultimately
withdrawn by the Administration.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
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Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/16/10)
Professional Engineers in California Government (source)
Board for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors
OPPOSITION : (Verified 6/16/10)
Association of Environmental and Engineering Geologists
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The Sponsor argues in support that
changing the makeup and name of the Board is good policy
and common sense so that the title reflects the professions
the Board is licensing. The Sponsor further believes that
fairness and common sense requires that the Board include
at least one licensee. It is not reasonable for a Board to
oversee a profession without any professional
representation of that profession, according to the
Sponsor.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Association of
Environmental and Engineering Geologists (AEG) has taken an
oppose unless amended position on the bill, urging that the
bill be amended to: (1) maintain the number of Board
members at 13 members, the current level; (2) add one
geophysicist to the Board; (3) add "Geophysicist" to the
name of the Board; (4) revise Business and Professions Code
Section 6712 to make conforming changes regarding the
Governor's authority to appoint the new Board members.
AEG believes increasing the size of the Board will result
in decreased efficiency, and suggests that the Board remain
at the current level of 13 members by exchanging the two
title act positions currently on the Board (one structural
engineer; one of the remaining branches of engineering)
with two Geologist and Geophysicist Act licensees.
AEG further argues that as a title act license, the
practice of structural engineering does not require a
structural engineer license; and the same is true for the
remaining branches of engineering, other than civil,
mechanical, and electrical, but the practice of geology and
geophysics does require a license in California. According
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to AEG, practice acts exist because the public and the
Legislature have determined that licensure of those
professions is necessary for public protection; and it
therefore follows that "a board's professional members must
be licensed under the board's practice acts in order for
those members to be considered qualified to address public
safety-related issues related to their profession."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Chesbro, Cook, Coto, De La Torre, Emmerson,
Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller,
Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman,
Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, John A. Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Saldana,
Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland,
Swanson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada
NO VOTE RECORDED: Carter, Conway, Davis, De Leon, DeVore,
Hall, V. Manuel Perez, Salas, Torlakson, Bass
JJA:do 6/16/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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