BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 543| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: SB 543 Author: Price (D) Amended: 4/14/11 Vote: 21 SENATE BUSINESS, PROF & ECON DEVELOP COMM : 9-0, 05/02/11 AYES: Price, Emmerson, Corbett, Correa, Hernandez, Negrete McLeod, Vargas, Walters, Wyland SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 9-0, 05/16/11 AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Emmerson, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Runner, Steinberg SUBJECT : Business and professions: regulatory boards SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill extends the sunset date of the California Architects Board (CAB), Contractors State License Board (CSLB), Landscape Architects Technical Committee (LATC), Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists (BPELSG), State Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind (Guide Dog Board), State Athletic Commission (Commission), and makes programmatic and administrative changes to some of the boards, committees and commissions whose operation is being extended. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1. Provides for the licensing and regulation of CONTINUED SB 543 Page 2 various professions and businesses by some 23 boards, 4 committees, 8 bureaus, and 1 commission within the Department of Consumer Affairs under various Business and Professions Code licensing acts. 2. Requires the licensing applicants of specified boards to submit a full set of fingerprints for the purposes of conducting criminal history record checks, and authorizes the licensing boards to obtain and receive, at its discretion, criminal history information from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The boards subject to this requirement are: California Board of Accountancy State Athletic Commission Board of Behavioral Sciences Court Reporters Board State Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind California State Board of Pharmacy Board of Registered Nursing Veterinary Medical Board Registered Veterinary Technician Committee Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians Respiratory Care Board of California Hearing Aid Dispensers Advisory Commission Physical Therapy Board Physician Assistant Committee of the Medical Board of California Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Board Medical Board of California State Board of Optometry Acupuncture Board Cemetery and Funeral Bureau Bureau of Security and Investigative Services Division of Investigation Board of Psychology The California Board of Occupational Therapy Structural Pest Control Board Contractors State License Board Bureau of Naturopathic Medicine The Professional Fiduciaries Bureau CONTINUED SB 543 Page 3 1. Establishes CAB until January 1, 2012. 2. Authorizes CAB to appoint an Executive Officer (EO) until January 1, 2012. 3. Authorizes the CAB to regulate and implement an intern development program until January 1, 2012. 4. Specifies that licenses issued or renewed by CAB expire at 12 midnight on the last day of the birth month of the license holder in each odd numbered year following the issuance or renewal of the license. Clarifies that to renew an unexpired license, the license holder shall apply for renewal before the time at which the license would otherwise expire. 5. Establishes LATC under CAB until January 1, 2012 and authorizes LATC to: assist CAB in the examination of candidates for a landscape architect's license; investigate, assist and make recommendations to CAB about the regulation of landscape architects; perform delegated duties and functions and; send a representative to CAB meetings to report on activities. 6. Establishes BPELSG until January 1, 2012. 7. Authorizes BPELSG to appoint an EO until January 1, 2012. 8. Prohibits use of the title "structural engineer" by any person unless he or she is a licensed civil engineer in California and has been deemed qualified as a structural engineer according to rules and regulations established by BPELSG. 9. Specifies that an applicant to use the title "structural engineer" must pass a written exam that incorporates a national exam by a nationally recognized entity approved by BPELSG and must pass a supplemental California specific exam that tests the applicant's knowledge of state laws, rules and regulations, seismicity and structural engineering unique to this state. CONTINUED SB 543 Page 4 10. Creates the Professional Engineer and Land Surveyor's Fund. 11. Establishes CSLB, subject to review by DCA limited only to unresolved issues identified by the Joint Committee on Boards, Commissions and Consumer Protection, until January 1, 2012. 12. Authorizes CSLB to appoint, with DCA director approval, a registrar of contractors as EO until January 1, 2012. 13. Establishes the Guide Dog Board until January 1, 2012. 14. Establishes a pilot project for arbitration of disputes between dog users and dog schools over continued custody and use of dogs until January 1, 2012. 15. Establishes the Geologists and Geophysics Fund. 16. Requires applicants for registration as a geologist to pay an exam fee set by the board, not to exceed $450. 17. Establishes BPELSG as the entity responsible for carrying out the Professional Land Surveyors Act until January 1, 2012. 18. Establishes the Commission until January 1, 2012. 19. Requires the Commission to provide a report to the Legislature by July 30, 2010 on the condition of the Neurological Examination Account and the Boxers' Pension Fund. This bill: 1. Adds BPELSG to the list of specified boards whose licensing applicants are required to submit a full set of fingerprints for the purposes of conducting criminal history record checks. CONTINUED SB 543 Page 5 2. Extends the date of operation of CAB until January 1, 2014. 3. Removes the sunset date on CAB's authority to implement an intern development program, granting permanent authority to CAB. 4. Amends CAB's license renewal process to clarify that licenses expire no more than 24 months after the issue date and to clarify that the expiration date of the original license shall be set by CAB in a manner to best distribute renewal procedures throughout each year. Specifies that to renew and unexpired license, the license holder shall apply for a renewal on or before the expiration date of the license. 5. Extends the date of operation of LATC until January 1, 2014. 6. Extends the date of operation of BPELSG until January 1, 2014. 7. Deletes the requirement for a California specific exam for structural engineers. 8. Adds "Geologist's and Geophysicist's" to the name of the BPELSG fund, creating the "Board of Professional Engineer's, Land Surveyor's, Geologist's and Geophysicist's Fund." 9. Removes the cap on the exam fee set by the BPELSG for registration as a geologist. 10. Extends the operation of CSLB until January 1, 2012 and deletes an obsolete reference to the Joint Committee on Boards, Commissions and Consumer Protection. 11. Extends the operation of the Guide Dog Board and arbitration pilot project until January 1, 2014. 12. Extends the operation of the Commission until January 1, 2014 and requires the Commission to provide CONTINUED SB 543 Page 6 a report to the Legislature by July 30, 2012 on the condition of the Neurological Examination Account and the Boxers' Pension Fund. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund Board fingerprinting Up to $140 Up to $160 Up to $160 Special* requirement Sunset extensions Costs offset by fee revenues Special** * Professional Engineer's, Land Surveyor's, Geologist's, and Geophysicist's Fund **Professional Engineer's, Land Surveyor's, Geologist's, and Geophysicist's Fund, State Athletic Commission Neurological Examination Account, Contractors' License Fund and the Boxers' Pension Fund SUPPORT : (Verified 5/17/11) California Landscape Contractors Association Contractors State License Board Guide Dog Users Inc. Guide Dog Users of America State Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The Contractors State License Board (CSLB) writes in support of SB 543, noting that "CSLB believes we are working hard to fulfill our consumer protection mandate, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Legislature, consumers and other interested parties to further our efforts." The California Landscape Contractors Association (CLCA) believes that CSLB has made remarkable progress in its mission to protect consumers and provide contractors with a fair and competitive marketplace for their services. CLCA states that allowing CSLB to sunset and be replaced by a CONTINUED SB 543 Page 7 bureau would be step backward and a serious blow to open and responsive governance of the construction industry. Guide Dog Users Inc., Guide Dog Users of America and the State Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind write in support of extending the date of operation for the Guide Dog Board, noting that the Board provides important services to licensed instructors and visually impaired consumers. Supporters believe that the work of the Guide Dog Board has resulted in improved training standards for training of guide dogs for the blind and an improved process for licensing dog trainers and that it is important for the Board to continue providing consumer protection. JJA:nl 5/18/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED