BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 944
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Date of Hearing: June 28, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER
PROTECTION
Mary Hayashi, Chair
SB 944 (Business, Professions and Economic Development) - As
Amended: June 21, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 39-0
SUBJECT : Business and professions.
SUMMARY : Makes several changes to various provisions
pertaining to the regulatory boards of the Department of
Consumer Affairs (DCA) aod the professions regulated primarily
under the Business and Professions Code. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Updates obsolete references to the Uniform Building Code (UBC)
with California Building Code (CBC) instead.
2)Corrects the name of the Board for Professional Engineers,
Land Surveyors, and Geologists (BPELSG) and makes conforming
changes to reflect the addition of a geologist to BPELSG.
3)Authorizes BPELSG to establish relations with other states'
and countries' licensing bodies that regulate the practice of
professional engineering, professional land surveying, or
closely related professions, for the purposes of working
toward uniformly high professional standards and mutual
recognition of registration and licensure.
4)Makes clarifying changes to provisions governing BPELSG's
disciplinary procedures for professional engineers,
engineers-in-training, land surveyors and land
surveyors-in-training.
5)Recasts the requirement that BPELSG annually prepare a list of
licensed geologists and geophysicists containing certain
information, and provide that list to county clerks, to
instead require BPELSG to compile and maintain the list.
6)Recasts the advisory committee provisions under the former
Board of Gdologists and Geophysicists to the BPELSG, as
specified.
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7)Specifies that an applicant for certification as a
geologist-in-training (GIT) shall:
a) Not have committed acts or crimes constituting grounds
for denial of certification, as specified; and,
b) Successfully pass the Fundamentals of Geology
examination, as specified.
8)Clarifies that the seal used by an individual with a specialty
in geology or in geophysics must indicate the appropriate
specialty in geology or geophysics in which the individual is
certified.
9)Deletes outdated effective dates and updates obsolete
terminology in provisions governing the Contractors' State
License Board (CSLB).
10)Clarifies that the CSLB provides blank license application
forms rather than from DCA.
11)Replaces outdated references to "secretary" with "executive
officer" and makes other technical changes to provisions
governing the Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind (BGDB).
12)Clarifies that veterinarian certification of a guide dog is
made at the time the dog is assigned to a blind person instead
of at the time of delivery of the guide dog.
13)Requires independent audits of school finances by a certified
public accountant to be furnished to BGDB within 90 days after
the end of a calendar year, instead of 180 days.
14)Clarifies the definition of an "assignment," under provisions
governing repossessors, to permit an employer to order the
repossession of company property held by an employee or former
employee without having to prove that the person is wrongfully
in possession of the property, and to clarify that an
assignment may be in an electronic format. Clarifies "health
hazard" to include any personal effect that might damage other
personal effects.
15)Authorizes a person to work as a qualified certificate holder
or registrant pending receipt of the qualification certificate
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or registration card from the Bureau of Security and
Investigative Services (BSIS) if he or she has been approved
by BSIS and carries a hardcopy printout of the BSIS's
approval, as specified.
16)Establishes a four year retention period for repossession
agencies to keep inventory and adequate information on file as
to how, when, and to whom personal effects were disposed of.
17)Authorizes, instead of requires, the California Tax Education
Council (CTEC) to notify the Attorney General, district
attorney, or city attorney of violations by individuals
preparing taxes illegally, as specified.
18)Conforms continuing education requirements for individuals
preparing taxes for a fee with federal law.
19)Deletes a reference to the obsolete Joint Committee on
Boards, Commissions, and Consumer Protection.
20)Updates the noncollusion affidavit required in public works
contract bids to reflect current terminology and make
technical changes.
21)Makes technical and conforming changes.
EXISTING LAW
1)Provides for the licensure and regulation of contractors by
the CSLB within DCA, under the Contractors' State License Law.
2)Authorizes persons to obtain blank license application,
renewal, or reinstatement forms from the DCA.
3)Establishes BGDB under DCA that licenses and regulates schools
and instructors for the training of guide dogs for the blind
and the instruction of blind persons in the use of guide dogs.
4)Requires the schools licensed by the BGDB to furnish to BGDB
an independent audit of the school's finances, as specified,
within 180 days after the end of a calendar year.
5)Provides that a certificate from a veterinarian certifying
that certain requirements have been met is required to be
delivered to the recipient of the guide dog at the time of
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delivery.
6)Provides that after January 1, 2011, boards scheduled for
repeal are to be evaluated by the Joint Sunset Review
Committee.
7)Establishes BPELSG, consisting of 15 members, including
professional members appointed by the Governor, as specified.
8)Authorizes BPELSG to receive and investigate complaints
against professional engineers, engineers-in-training, land
surveyors, and land surveyors-in-training and authorizes
BPELSG to appoint committees to perform certain duties, as
specified.
9)Requires BPELSG to prepare an annual list of the names and
addresses of geologists and geophysicists registered by it and
a list of every person whose registration was suspended or
revoked the previous year and to mail the list to the county
clerks of each county.
10)Provides for procedures and qualifications for BSIS to issue
an initial qualification certificate to persons who are in
active control or management, as specified, of a licensed
repossession agency and requires every person employed by or
contracting with an agency to be registered with the BSIS,
under the Collateral Recovery Act.
11)Specifies circumstances for disposal of personal effects
removed by a repossession agency from repossessed collateral,
including maintaining permanent records.
12)Requires a tax preparer to complete annually a minimum of 20
hours of continuing education, including 12 hours in federal
taxation, and four hours in California taxation, and an
additional four hours in federal taxation or California
taxation.
13)Requires a tax preparer to register with CTEC and requires
CTEC to notify the Attorney General, a district attorney, or a
city attorney of any notice CTEC receives of a failure of a
tax preparer to do so, as specified.
14)Requires any public works contract of any public entity to
include an affidavit, as specified, affirming that the bidder
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has not participated in various collusive activities.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Purpose of this bill . According to the author's office, "This
bill consolidates a number of non-controversial provisions
related to various regulatory programs and professions governed
by the Business and Professions Code. Consolidating the
provisions in one bill is designed to relieve the various
licensing boards, agencies and professions from the necessity
and burden of having separate measures for a number of
non-controversial revisions. Many are minor, technical and
updating changes, while other provisions are substantive changes
intended to improve the ability of various licensing programs
and other entities to efficiently and effectively administer
their respective laws."
Background . The following background was provided by the
author's office to clarify the more significant and substantive
provisions in this bill:
1)CSLB . According to the CSLB, certain provisions of law have
been effective for a number of years and should be cleaned up
to remove obsolete references to effective dates, or operative
dates. This bill makes technical cleanup and conforming
changes, by deleting references to outdated effective dates.
Additionally, this bill deletes "electrical" in reference to
sign contractors since the term was eliminated from regulatory
title of the C-45 license in 2009. Also, the law provides
that blank applications may be obtained from DCA. However
CSLB operates its own separate licensing division. This bill
clarifies that blank application forms are available from CSLB
rather than from DCA.
2)BGDB . According to BGDB, this bill clarifies terminology to
more accurately refer to the "executive officer" and to the
"board." This bill also updates archaic terms, to refer to
"guide dog" rather than "seeing eye dog" and to refer to
"spayed or neutered;" and provides that the veterinarian
certification is made at the time the guide dog is assigned to
a blind person rather than at time of delivery of the dog.
Current law requires a guide dog school to submit a renewal
payment by April 30, based on information provided by an
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independent audit, however the audit is due to the BGDB 180
days after the calendar year (i.e., June 30). This bill would
instead require the audit be submitted to BGDB 90 days after
the end of the calendar year (March 30).
3)BPELSG . This bill corrects the name of the BPELSG which was
changed by AB 1431 (Hill) Chapter 696, Statutes of 2010, and
makes conforming changes to reflect the addition of a
geologist to the board. Current law requires BPELSG to
establish relations with other states' and countries'
licensing bodies relating to geology and geophysics to work
toward uniformly high professional standards and mutual
recognition of registration and licensure. This bill
establishes similar provisions in the Engineering, and Land
Surveyor Acts.
According to the author's office, an administrative law judge
(ALJ) recently questioned the use of the phrase "found
guilty," in current provisions related to BPELSG's
disciplinary procedures. The ALJ stated, "The phrase 'found
guilty' is not entirely clear and suggests that a criminal
conviction for the fraud, deceit or misrepresentation
described, is necessary to find a violation of this section.
Respondent did not challenge this language, and there is no
known authority which requires a criminal conviction to
establish the violation and ground for discipline. Therefore,
the ALJ finds the language to be inartfully drafted and
considers respondent's acts as sufficient to prove a
violation." Although the ALJ only determined that the
language was "inartfully drafted" and that BPELSG still had
the authority to take administrative disciplinary action, the
language modification in this bill is intended to avoid future
issues based on questionable language, and to make
non-substantive, clarifying amendments.
Currently, BPELSG has the authority to issue a temporary
authorization to practice professional engineering in
California; however, it does not have the authority to revoke
that authorization if the holder violates the law while
performing the work. This bill establishes the authority for
BPELSG to revoke a temporary authorization.
This bill recasts the requirement that BPELSG annually prepare a
list of licensed geologists and geophysicists and provide that
list to county clerks, to instead require BPELSG to compile
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and maintain a list.
The recent consolidation of the Board of Geologists and
Geophysics into BPELSG (ABX4 20, Strickland, Chapter 18,
Statutes of 2009) eliminated the advisory committees used by
the former board. This bill recasts the advisory committee
provisions by repealing the prior committee authority, and,
instead establishing advisory committees similar to those in
the Engineering Act.
Current law establishes a GIT examination and certification as a
component to obtain a professional geologist license. The GIT
certification was intended to mirror the engineer-in-training
certification. This bill codifies the criteria that is
currently followed by the BPELSG and that were intended to be
included initially, for determining if an applicant is
qualified for certification as a GIT.
Finally, this bill clarifies that the seal used by an individual
with a specialty in geology or in geophysics must indicate the
appropriate specialty in geology or geophysics in which the
individual is certified.
4)California Council for Interior Design Certification . As of
January 1, 2008, the UBC is no longer used in California and
has been replaced by another code, the CBC. This bill updates
the reference to the updated code.
5)BSIS . This bill clarifies the definition of an "assignment"
to permit an employer to order the repossession of company
property (e.g., laptop, vehicle, etc.) held by an employee or
former employee without having to prove that the person is
"wrongfully in possession" of the property and clarifies that
an assignment may be in an electronic format. Additionally,
this bill clarifies "health hazard" to include any personal
effect that might damage other personal effects.
Currently, it takes BSIS several weeks to reissue a lost,
damaged or destroyed qualification certificate and current law
does not address a qualified manager's status to work pending
receipt of a replacement certificate. This bill allows a
qualified manager to practice with a hardcopy printout of the
BSIS' approval when the certificate is initially issued or if
the certificate is damaged or destroyed.
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This bill also authorizes a registrant to work pending receipt
of his or her state-approved registration card or if the card
is lost or damaged, by allowing practice with a hardcopy
printout of the bureau's approval when the certificate is
initially issued or if the certificate is damaged or
destroyed.
Currently, when a repossession agency prepares an inventory of
personal effects, a copy of the inventory must be "filed in
the permanent records of the licensee" indefinitely. Some
licensees have copies of inventories dating back 20 to 30
years or longer, but there is no legitimate business reason
for retaining that information for so long. This bill
establishes a retention period of four years.
6)CTEC . CTEC has an agreement with the California Franchise Tax
Board (FTB) to carry out enforcement actions, and levy fines
on individuals preparing taxes illegally. Initially, FTB was
not able to levy fines, but identified the illegal preparers
to CTEC for further action, and CTEC was then required to
notify the Attorney General, a district attorney, or a city
attorney of the violation. Now that FTB can levy fines, the
requirement to notify other prosecuting agencies is
unproductive given these are usually "low-level" cases and are
not pursued. This bill no longer requires, but would still
authorize CTEC to notify the Attorney General, a district
attorney, or a city attorney of a violation if it wishes to do
so due to the nature of the violation.
Effective September 2010, the IRS requires all individuals
preparing taxes for a fee to register with the IRS, obtain a
personal tax identification number, and take 15 hours of
continuing federal education annually. This bill conforms
with the federal 15-hour continuing education requirement, by
revising California law to require 15 hours of federal
taxation and 5 hours of California taxation.
7)Sunset Review Cleanup . This bill removes an outdated
reference to the Joint Committee on Boards, Commissions, and
Consumer Protection that was repealed by AB 2130 (Huber,
Chapter 670, Statutes of 2010).
8)Contractor Public Works Noncollusion Affidavit . This bill
updates the noncollusion affidavit required in public works
contract bids to reflect current terminology and usage and
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makes technical changes. The existing form requires a notary,
instead of a simple declaration and contains ungrammatical and
cumbersome 19th century language that needs to be updated.
Previous legislation . AB 1431 (Hill), Chapter 696, Statutes of
2010, renamed the Board for Professional Engineers and Land
Surveyors BPELSG and increased its board members from 13 to 15.
AB 2130 (Huber), Chapter 670, Statutes of 2010, abolished the
Joint Committee on Boards, Commission, and Consumer Protection
and would instead make eligible agencies, as defined, subject to
review by the Joint Sunset Review Committee.
ABX4 20 (Strickland) Chapter 18, Statutes of 2009, abolished the
Board for Geologists and Geophysicists and instead required the
Board for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors to
administer the Geologists and Geophysicists Act.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Chapter of the American Fence Association
California Fence Contractors' Association
Contractors State License Board
Engineering Contractors' Association
Flasher Barricade Association
Marin Builders Association
State Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Rebecca May / B.,P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301