BILL NUMBER: AB 2237	ENROLLED
	BILL TEXT

	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 13, 2012
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  MAY 25, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 9, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 15, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Monning

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2012

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


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2237, Monning. Contractors: definition.
   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 the term "contractor" to include, among others,
any person or consultant to an owner-builder who undertakes, offers
to undertake, or submits a bid to construct a building or home
improvement project. Existing law requires applicants and licensed
contractors to pay specified fees that are deposited into the
continuously appropriated Contractors' License Fund. Under existing
law, it is a crime for a person to act as a contractor without a
license.
   This bill would define the term "consultant" for purposes of the
definition of a contractor to include a person who provides a bid, or
who arranges for and sets up work schedules and maintains oversight
of a construction project, with respect to a home improvement
contract, as specified. Because consultants who provide the
above-described services would be required to pay license fees which
are deposited into the Contractors' License Fund, the bill would make
an appropriation. Because this bill would expand the scope of an
existing crime, the bill 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.
   Appropriation: 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) (1) 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.
   (2) For purposes of this subdivision, a consultant is a person,
other than a public agency or an owner of privately owned real
property to be improved, who meets either of the following criteria
as it relates to work performed pursuant to a home improvement
contract as defined in Section 7151.2:
   (A) Provides or oversees a bid for a construction project.
   (B) Arranges for and sets up work schedules for contractors and
subcontractors and maintains oversight of a construction project.
   (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
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.  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.