BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 417|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 417
Author: Bill Berryhill (R)
Amended: 6/20/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMM. : 9-0, 6/27/11
AYES: Price, Emmerson, Corbett, Correa, Hernandez, Negrete
McLeod, Vargas, Walters, Wyland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 71-2, 5/19/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Structural pest control
SOURCE : Pest Control Operators of California
DIGEST : This bill prohibits a city, county, or city and
county from prohibiting a licensee of the Structural Pest
Control Board from engaging in the particular business,
occupation, or profession for which he or she is licensed
under the Structural Pest Control law.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law :
1. Prohibits a city or county from prohibiting a person or
group of persons, authorized by one of the agencies in
the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) by a license,
certificate, or other such means to engage in a
particular business, from engaging in that business,
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occupation, or profession or any portion thereof.
2. Provides for the licensing and regulation of more than
24,000 structural pest control operators, field
representatives, applicators and registered structural
pest control companies by the Structural Pest Control
Board (SPCB or Board) within the Department of Pesticide
Regulation (DPR).
3. Provides that the practice of structural pest control
includes engaging in, offering, advertising, soliciting,
or the performance of: identification of infestations
or infections; making an inspection to identify
infestations or infections of structures by pests or
organisms; making inspection reports, recommendations,
estimates, and bids; making contracts, or bidding for,
or the performance of any work including, making
structural repairs or replacements, or the use of
pesticides, insecticides, rodenticides, fumigants, or
allied chemicals or substances, or mechanical devices
for the purpose of eliminating, exterminating,
controlling or preventing infestations or infections of
pests, or organisms.
4. Provides for structural pest control operators, field
representatives, and applicators to be licensed in as
many as three specified areas of pest control: Branch 1
- Fumigation, Branch 2 - General pest, and Branch 3 -
Termite.
5. Specifically provides that the practice of the Branch 3
- Termite license relates to the control of
wood-destroying pests or organisms by the use of
insecticides, or structural repairs and corrections,
excluding fumigation with poisonous or lethal gases.
6. Licenses and regulates contractors by the Contractors
State License Board within the DCA and exempts from the
licensing requirement, a licensed structural pest
control operator acting within the scope of his or her
license.
This bill prohibits a city, county, or city and county from
prohibiting a licensee of the SPCB from engaging in the
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particular business, occupation, or profession for which he
or she is licensed under the Structural Pest Control law.
Background
General provisions of the Business and Professions Code
prohibit a city or county from prohibiting a person
licensed by a board or bureau under DCA to engage in that
licensed business, occupation, or profession or any portion
thereof.
AB 20 X4 (Strickland), Chapter 18, Statutes of 2009, makes
a number of changes to several regulatory agencies,
including, moving the SPCB from the DCA into the DPR. In
transferring the Board outside of DCA it has been argued
that the licensed pest control operators no longer meet the
criteria of Section 460 (a), since the SPCB is no longer
under DCA. This has direct impact on the ability of pest
control operators, operating under their licenses, to
obtain building permits and have their modifications and
repairs signed off on by local building inspectors.
This bill addresses this issue by mirroring the provisions
of Business and Professions Code Section 460 (a) in the
Structural Pest Control Act.
Repairs by Pest Control Licensees . The Structural Pest
Control Act provides for the licensing and regulation of
structural pest control operators, field representatives,
and applicators and the registration of structural pest
control companies by the SPCB. The SPCB was created by the
California Legislature in 1935. Prior to that time
structural pest control was regulated by the Contractors
State License Board. By application and examination, the
SPCB issues licenses in three specified areas of pest
control. All companies and their branch offices must be
registered by the SPCB.
Branch 1 - Fumigation. The control of household and
wood destroying pests or organisms by fumigation with
poisonous or lethal gases.
Branch 2 - General pest. The control of household
pests, but excludes fumigation.
Branch 3 - Termite. The control of wood destroying
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pests or organisms by use of insecticides, or
structural repairs and corrections, excluding
fumigation.
When an inspection finds wood destroying pests in a
structure, the report must include recommendations for
corrective measures. Corrective measures may include the
repair or replacement of structural elements which have
been damaged by pests or organisms. At the consumers
choice, the consumer may make the necessary corrective
repairs in any of several ways, including: using the
services of a licensed contractor, or contracting with a
Branch 3 licensee for those repairs and corrections.
The Contractors State License (CSLB) law exempts pest
control operators acting with the scope of their license
from the contractor licensing requirement. The CSLB's
Building Official Information Guide states, "Structural
Pest Control Operators are not required to hold a
contractor's license when operating within the scope of
their license. Only a Branch 3 Licensed Structural Pest
Control Operator may contract and pull permits for the
repair or replacement of wood damaged by wood-destroying
pests or organisms."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/30/11)
Pest Control Operators of California (source)
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "AB 417
simply clarifies to local building inspectors in statute
the ability to make repairs which were lost when the
Structural Pest Control Board was removed from the
jurisdiction of the Department of Consumer Affairs and
placed under the authority of the Department of Pesticide
Regulation."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Achadjian, Allen, Atkins, Beall, Bill Berryhill,
Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan,
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Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro,
Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng, Feuer,
Fletcher, Fuentes, Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto,
Gordon, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi,
Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Jeffries, Jones,
Knight, Lara, Logue, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller,
Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby,
Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao,
Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Ammiano, Huffman
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Block, Butler, Fong, Furutani,
Gorell, Bonnie Lowenthal
JJA:do 6/30/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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