BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 944
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 17, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

             SB 944 (Business, Professions and Economic Development) - As 
                              Amended:  July 12, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              Business and 
          Professions  Vote:                            9 - 0 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

          SUMMARY  

          This bill makes several changes to various provisions pertaining 
          to the regulatory boards of the Department of Consumer Affairs 
          (DCA) and the professions regulated primarily under the Business 
          and Professions Code.  Specifically, this bill:

          1)Authorizes the Board for Professional Engineers, Land 
            Surveyors, and Geologists (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.

          2)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.

          3)Requires independent audits of school finances by a certified 
            public accountant to be furnished to the Board of Guide Dogs 
            for the Blind (BGDB) within 90 days after the end of a 
            calendar year, instead of 180 days.

          4)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.

          5)Makes other technical and conforming changes.









                                                                  SB 944
                                                                  Page  2

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          There are no significant costs associated with this legislation.

           COMMENTS 

           Purpose  . This committee 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.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916) 
          319-2081