BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 543
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 543 (Steinberg and Price)
As Amended September 2, 2011
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :37-1
BUSINESS & PROFESSIONS 9-0
APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Hayashi, Bill Berryhill, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Allen, Butler, Eng, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Hagman, Hill, Ma, Smyth | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| | | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Extends the sunset date of a number of boards,
committees and commissions within the Department of Consumer
Affairs (DCA) and makes programmatic and administrative changes
to some of these entities. Specifically, this bill :
1)Adds the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and
Geologists (BPELSG) to the list of specified boards whose
licensing applicants must submit a full set of fingerprints
for the purposes of conducting criminal history record checks.
This requirement is limited to initial applicants who have
never been registered or licensed by BPELSG or to applicants
for a new licensure or registration category.
2)Authorizes the Department of Finance (DOF) to augment the
budgets of the boards, bureaus and other entities that
comprise DCA for expenditure of non-General Fund moneys to pay
BreEZe project costs, as specified. At least 30-days written
notice must be made to the Legislature, as specified, before
any augmentation may be made. The amount of funds augmented
shall be consistent with project cost increases approved by
the Secretary of California Technology, as specified. This
provision becomes inoperative when the Budget Act of 2012 is
enacted.
3)Provides that no physical therapist shall be subject to
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discipline by the Physical Therapy Board of California (PT
Board) for providing physical therapy services as a
professional employee of a medical corporation, podiatric
medical corporation or chiropractic corporation. This
provision shall not be construed to imply or suggest that a
physical therapist providing physical therapy services as a
professional employee of these types of corporations is in
violation of or compliance with the law, and sunsets January
1, 2013.
4)Extends the operation of the California Board of Accountancy
(CBA) and related provisions until January 1, 2016, and
subjects CBA to review by the appropriate policy committees of
the Legislature.
5)Provides that any restatement of a financial statement that is
included in any report filed with the United States Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC) shall be exempt from existing
law requiring an accountant licensee to report to CBA any
restatement of a financial statement and related disclosures
by a client audited by the licensee.
6)Deletes the repeal date of CBA's peer review program and its
peer review oversight committee.
7)Extends to January 1, 2015, the date by which CBA must submit
a report to the Legislature and the Governor regarding peer
review requirements and revises the contents of the report, as
specified.
8)Extends the operation of the California Architects Board (CAB)
and related provisions until January 1, 2016, and removes the
July 1, 2012, sunset date of CAB's authority to implement an
intern development program, granting CAB permanent authority
to do so.
9)Extends the operation of the Landscape Architects Technical
Committee (LATC) and related provisions until January 1, 2016.
10)Extends the operation of the Professional Fiduciaries Bureau
(PFB), until January 1, 2015, and subjects PFB to review by
the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature.
11)Extends the operation of BPELSG and related provisions until
January 1, 2016, and subjects BPELSG to review by the
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appropriate policy committees of the Legislature.
12)Extends the operation of the Contractors' State License Board
(CSLB) and related provisions until January 1, 2016, and
subjects CSLB to review by the appropriate policy committees
of the Legislature.
13)Extends the operation of the State Board of Guide Dogs for
the Blind (BGDB) and related provisions, including a pilot
project to resolve disputes between guide dog users and guide
dog schools, until January 1, 2014, and subjects BGDB to
review by the appropriate policy committees of the
Legislature.
14)Deletes the $450 cap on the examination fee for registration
as a geologist, maintaining the BPELSG's authority to set the
fee at an amount equal to the actual cost of administering the
examination.
15)Extends the operation of the State Athletic Commission
(Commission) and related provisions until January 1, 2014, and
subjects the Commission to review by the appropriate policy
committees of the Legislature.
16)Extends to July 30, 2012, the date by which the Commission
must provide a report to the Governor and the Legislature on
the condition of the Neurological Examination Account and the
Boxers' Pension Fund.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to Assembly Appropriations Committee:
1)Providing DOF with the authority to augment the budgets of
various boards in order to fund early phases of the BreEZe
project will likely result in $2 to $4 million in funding for
the automation project in 2012. When completed, that project
is estimated to cost approximately $50 million.
2)One-time costs between $450,000 and $580,000 for the workload
associated with requiring current Board for Professional
Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists licensees to submit
fingerprints for a criminal history record check.
(Professional Engineers', Land Surveyors', Geologists' and
Geophysicists' Fund).
3)On-going costs of approximately $150,000 per year for the
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costs associated with requiring licensing applicants to submit
fingerprints for background checks. The costs are primarily
associated with investigating applicants who have a criminal
conviction. Costs for the BPELSG would be in excess of
$60,000 annual and costs for the Attorney General's Office of
Administrative Hearings could range from $50,000 to $100,000
per year. (Professional Engineers', Land Surveyors',
Geologists' and Geophysicists' Fund).
COMMENTS : This bill extends the operations of several entities
within DCA that have shown to be effective and efficient
regulatory bodies, protecting both the professions they oversee
and California consumers. The entities whose operations have
been extended include: CBA, CAB, LATC, PFB, BPELSG, CSLB, BGDB,
and the Commission.
This bill also makes a number of changes to some of these
regulatory entities and the programs they administer.
The bill also protects physical therapists who practice as
employees of medical corporations, podiatric medical
corporations or chiropractic corporations from disciplinary
action by the PT Board until January 1, 2013, to allow time to
resolve legally-questionable activities by the PT Board.
In addition, this bill provides statutory authority for DOF to
access funds for the initial phase of the BreEZe project, an
integrated, enterprise-wide enforcement case management and
licensing system for DCA, which was inadvertently left out of
the budget bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Angela Mapp / B.,P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301
FN: 0002630