BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 944|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 944
Author: Senate Business, Professions and Economic
Development Cmte
Amended: 7/12/11
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 : Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR : 39-0, 06/02/11
AYES: Alquist, Anderson, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Calderon,
Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Dutton,
Emmerson, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Hancock, Harman,
Hernandez, Huff, Kehoe, La Malfa, Leno, Lieu, Liu,
Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio,
Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Vargas, Walters, Wolk,
Wright, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 08/25/11 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Business and Professions
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill makes several non-controversial,
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minor, non-substantive or technical changes to various
miscellaneous provisions pertaining to regulatory boards of
the Department of Consumer Affairs and professions
regulated primarily under the Business and Professions
Code.
Assembly Amendments add provisions pertaining to the Board
for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists,
and add double-jointed language with AB 1346 (Atkins).
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1.Provides for the licensing and regulation of various
professions and businesses by some 23 boards, 4
committees, 7 bureaus, and 1 commission within the
Department of Consumer Affairs under various licensing
acts within the Business and Professions Code.
2.Contains the following provisions relating to the
Contractors State License Board:
A. Refers to the effective date or "operative" or
"effective" date of various sections of law.
B. Refers to the specialty contractor classification
of electrical sign contractors.
C. Provides that a person may obtain blank
applications, renewal, or reinstatement forms from the
Department of Consumer Affairs.
1.Contains the following provisions relating to the Board
of Guide Dogs for the Blind:
A. Provides that the board "secretary" bears the
record keeping responsibilities of the board.
B. Provides that license applications and fees are to
be submitted to the secretary of the board.
C. Refers to "seeing eye dog," and provides that a dog
must be neutered.
1.Defines a weighmaster as any person who, for hire or
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otherwise, weighs, measures, or counts any commodity and
issues a statement or memorandum of the weight, measure,
or count used as the basis for either the purchase or
sale of that commodity, and describes those persons who
are not deemed weighmasters.
2.Refers to the Joint Committee on Boards, Commissions, and
Consumer Protection which was repealed by AB 2130 (Huber,
Chapter 670, Statutes of 2010).
3.Requires any public works contract of any public entity
to include an affidavit, as specified, affirming that the
bidder has not participated in various collusive
activities.
This bill:
1. Updates obsolete references to the Uniform Building
Code with California Building Code 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.
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6. Recasts the advisory committee provisions under the
former Board of Gdologists and Geophysicists to the
BPELSG, as specified.
7. Specifies that an applicant for certification as a
geologist-in-training 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.
1. 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.
2. Deletes outdated effective dates and updates
obsolete terminology in provisions governing the
Contractors' State License Board (CSLB).
3. Clarifies that the CSLB provides blank license
application forms rather than from DCA.
4. 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).
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. Clarifies the definition of an "assignment," under
provisions governing repossessors, to permit an
employer to order the repossession of company property
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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.
8. Authorizes a person to work as a qualified
certificate holder or registrant pending receipt of
the qualification certificate 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.
9. 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.
10. Authorizes, instead of requires, the California Tax
Education Council to notify the Attorney General,
district attorney, or city attorney of violations by
individuals preparing taxes illegally, as specified.
11. Conforms continuing education requirements for
individuals preparing taxes for a fee with federal
law.
12. Updates the noncollusion affidavit required in
public works contract bids to reflect current
terminology and make technical changes.
13. Makes technical and conforming changes.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/25/11)
Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and
Geologists
Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind
California Chapter of the American Fence Association
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California Council of the Blind
California Fence Contractors Association
California State Pipe Trades Council
Contractors State License Board
Engineering Contractors Association
Flasher Barricade Association
Guide Dog Users of California
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Marin Builders Association
Western States Council of Sheet Metal Workers
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 08/25/11 (Consent)
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley,
Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter,
Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,
Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove,
Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger
Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor,
Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande,
Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez,
Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bonilla, Gorell
JJA:nl 8/26/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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