BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1576|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1576
Author: Senate Business, Professions & Economic
Development Committee
Amended: 8/23/12
Vote: 21
SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMM. : 7-0, 4/23/12
AYES: Price, Emmerson, Corbett, Correa, Hernandez,
Strickland, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Negrete McLeod, Vargas
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR : 37-0, 5/14/12 (Consent)
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, Vargas, Walters, Wolk, Wright, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner, Strickland, Wyland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
SUBJECT : Professions and vocations
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill makes several non-controversial,
minor, nonsubstantive or technical changes to various
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provisions within the Business and Professions Code (BPC)
relating to the regulatory boards of the Department of
Consumer Affairs (DCA) and to the weights and measures
provisions under the jurisdiction of the Department of Food
and Agriculture (DFA).
Assembly Amendments (1) authorize the California Board of
Accountancy (CBA) to deny an applicant's application to
place a license in retired status if the permit is subject
to an outstanding order of the CBA; (2) add provisions to
the bill pertaining to the Bureau of Electronic and
Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation;
(3) add provisions to the bill pertaining to the Bureau of
Automotive Repair (BAR); (4) add double-jointing language
with SB 1405 (De Leon); and (5) make other technical and
clarifying changes.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Provides for the licensing and regulation of various
professions and businesses by some 23 boards, four
committees, seven bureaus, and one commission within the
DCA under various licensing acts within the BPC.
2. Contains the following provisions relating to the CBA:
A. Requires the CBA to print the adopted rules of
professional conduct on its applications. (BPC
Section 5019)
B. Establishes requirements for accountancy
partnerships, as specified. (BPC Section 5072)
C. Establishes peer review requirements of licensees,
and requires the CBA to adopt emergency regulations
implementing peer review. (BPC Section 5076)
D. Establishes the criteria for an applicant to
obtain a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license,
including specified ethic course requirements and
authorizes an Advisory Committee on Accounting Ethics
Curriculum to determine whether a course or portion
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of a course satisfies the ethics requirement. (BPC
Section 5093)
E. Refers to a specified accounting report prepared
by the California Research Bureau. (BPC Section
5094.6)
F. Authorizes the CBA to conditionally renew or
reinstate a license for one year to allow time for a
license holder with a financial hardship to pay costs
under a disciplinary order. (BPC Section 5107)
G. Authorizes a licensee who is no longer actively
engaged in practice, upon application to the CBA and
meeting specified requirements, to have his or her
license placed on retired status. (BPC Section
5070.1)
3. Contains the following provisions relating to the
Contractors State License Board (CSLB):
A. Provides that any person who files a false
complaint with the CSLB is guilty of an infraction
punishable by a fine of up to $1,000. (BPC Section
7011.8)
B. Provides for the cancellation of a contractor
license upon the death or disassociation of a partner
in a partnership, as specified. (BPC Section 7076)
4. Contains the following provisions relating to Board for
Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists
(BPELSG):
A. Provides an exemption from the taking of the first
part of the land surveyor examination to applicants
who have passed the engineer-in-training examination,
or who hold a professional engineer registration.
(BPC Section 8741)
B. Makes references to a land surveyor manual
published by the federal Bureau of Land Management
(BLM). (BPC Sections 8741 and 8762)
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C. Establishes criteria for a land surveyor to file a
record of survey. (BPC Section 8773)
5. Contains the following provisions relating to Weights
and Measures:
A. Makes numerous outdated references to the
"director" of the DFA. Makes outdated references to
the National Bureau of Standards, American Society of
Testing and Materials (ASTM), Society of Automotive
Engineers (SAE). (BPC Section 12012 ff)
B. Provides for the regulation of point of sale
systems. (BPC Section 12736)
C. Establishes administrative civil penalties which
duplicate provisions found in BPC Section 12015.3.
(BPC Section 13302)
This bill:
1. Recasts the provision requiring the CBA to print rules
of professional conduct on applications to instead
require an applicant for certificate or registration to
acknowledge that the applicant has read and understands
the rules of professional conduct.
2. Authorizes the CBA to deny an applicant's application to
place a license in retired status if the permit is
subject to an outstanding order of the CBA, as
specified.
3. Allows the holder of a license that was canceled,
because it was not renewed within five years of its
expiration, to apply for the placement of that license
in a retired status, and allows the CBA to reissue the
license in retired status.
4. Requires an accounting firm to renew its registration in
active status or convert to an active status, to meet
peer review guidelines, as specified.
5. Defines "accounting and auditing practice" to include
any services that were performed in the prior three
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years, using professional standards defined by the CBA
in regulations.
6. Provides that the holder of a canceled license placed in
retired status between January 1, 1994, and January 1,
1999, is not required to meet specified conditions of
the CBA.
7. Authorizes CBA to establish minimum qualifications to
place a license in retired status.
8. Deletes obsolete language requiring the CBA to adopt
emergency regulations to implement specified peer review
requirements.
9. Deletes an obsolete reference to the Advisory Committee
on Accounting Ethics Curriculum and its' authority to
determine that a course or portion of a course satisfies
ethics study requirements.
10.Deletes an obsolete reference to an accounting report by
the California Research Bureau and makes other
conforming changes.
11.Authorizes the CBA to renew or reinstate, for a maximum
of three years, the permit or certificate of a holder
who demonstrates financial hardship and who enters into
a formal agreement with the CBA to repay the costs
associated with a disciplinary action within a three
year period.
12.Requires biennial renewals for certificates of
registration or authority as a professional engineer to
be staged on a quarterly basis.
13.Revises the penalty for filing a false complaint with
the CSLB, to authorize the registrar to issue a
citation.
14.Makes a technical clarification by referring to the
"disassociation" rather than the "death" of a limited
partnership.
15.Revises the exemption from the first division of the
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land surveyor exam for applicants registered by the CSLB
as a California civil engineer.
16.Corrects outdated references, and correctly refers to
the "Manual of Surveying Instructions," (2009) published
by the federal BLM.
17.Clarifies the requirement for a land surveyor to file a
record of survey by expanding the definition of
establishment to include "location, relocation,
establishment reestablishment or retracement."
18.Allows persons registered under the Bureau to install,
calibrate, service, maintain and monitor ignition
interlock devices.
19.Requires the Bureau to adopt regulations to implement
the provision allowing persons registered under the
Bureau to install, calibrate, service, maintain and
monitor ignition interlock devices, consistent with the
standards adopted by the BAR and the Office of Traffic
Safety (OTS).
20.Adds ignition interlock device to the list of work
products that exempt a person licensed under the Bureau
from registration under the BAR.
21.Requires the BAR to cooperate with the OTS to adopt
standards for the installation, maintenance, and
servicing of ignition interlock devices by automotive
repair dealers.
22.Makes changes to correctly refer to the "Secretary" of
the DFA, and to the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, ASTM to ASTM International, and SAE to SAE
International.
23.Updates and revises the requirement for every county
sealer to attend a specified annual meeting.
24.Relocates and renumbers a provision pertaining to point
of sale systems.
25.Repeals duplicative provisions of law.
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26.Adds chaptering-out language with SB 1405 (De León).
27.Makes numerous other technical and clarifying changes.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/28/12)
California Board of Accountancy
Contractors State License Board
JJA:k 8/28/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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