Senate Bill No. 822

Introduced by Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development (Senators Price (Chair), Block, Corbett, Emmerson, Galgiani, Hernandez, Hill, Padilla, Wyland, and Yee)

March 20, 2013

An act to amend Sections 7114, 7141, 7206, 7210, and 7887 of, and to add Section 7851 to, the Business and Professions Code, relating to professions and vocations, and making an appropriation therefor.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 822, as introduced, Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development. Professions and vocations.

(1) Existing law, the Contractors’ State License Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of contractors in this state. Under existing law, a contractor’s license that has expired may be renewed at any time within 5 years after its expiration by filing an application for renewal on a form prescribed by the registrar of contractors, and payment of the appropriate renewal fee. If the license is renewed after the expiration date, existing law requires the licensee to also pay a delinquency fee.

This bill would provide an exception to the requirement to pay the delinquency fee where an incomplete renewal application, that had originally been submitted on or before the license expiration date, was returned to the licensee by the registrar with an explanation of the reasons for its rejection and a corrected and acceptable renewal application is returned by the licensee within 30 days after the license expiration date. The bill would also require that the license reflect an expired status for any period between the expiration date and the date of submission of a correct and acceptable renewal application.

(2) Existing law, until January 1, 2014, provides that there is in the Department of Consumer Affairs a State Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind that has exclusive authority to issue licenses for the instruction of blind persons in the use of guide dogs, for the training of guide dogs for use by blind persons, to operate schools for the training of guide dogs for the blind, and for the instruction of blind persons in the use of guide dogs. Existing law requires the board to hold regular meetings at least once a year at which an examination of applicants for certificates of registration is to be given.

This bill would delete that requirement.

(3) Existing law, the Geologist and Geophysicist Act, provides for the registration, regulation, and discipline of professional geologists and geophysicists by the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists. A violation of the act is a misdemeanor. Existing law creates the Geology and Geophysics Account of the Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors Fund, which is a continuously appropriated fund, into which fees prescribed by the act are deposited.

This bill would create a new category of registration, to be known as a “retired registration,” for a geologist or geophysicist who meets specified qualifications and would prescribe fees necessary to obtain a retired registration, as well as restrictions on holders of the registration. The bill would also specify the title that the holder of a retired registration is authorized to use. Because a violation of these requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Because the bill would increase moneys deposited into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.

(4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 7114 of the Business and Professions
Code is amended to read:

7114.  

(a) Aiding or abetting an unlicensed person to evade
the provisions of this chapter or combining or conspiring with an
unlicensed person, or allowing one’s license to be used by an
unlicensed person, or acting as agent or partner or associate, or
otherwise, of an unlicensed person with the intent to evade the
provisions of this chapter constitutes a cause for disciplinary action.

(b) A licensee who is found by the registrar to have violated
subdivision (a) shall, in accordance with the provisions of this
article, be subject to the registrar’s authority begin delete pursuant to Section
7099 end delete to order payment of a specified sum to an injured party,
including, but not limited to, payment for any injury resulting from
the acts of the unlicensed person.

SEC. 2.  

Section 7141 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:

7141.  

begin insert (a) end insert begin insert   end insert Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, a
license that has expired may be renewed at any time within five
years after its expiration by filing an application for renewal on a
form prescribed by the registrar begin delete , end delete and payment of the appropriate
renewal fee. Renewal under this section shall be effective on the
date an acceptable renewal application is filed with the board. The
licensee shall be considered unlicensed and there will be a break
in the licensing time between the expiration date and the date the
renewal becomes effective. begin delete If end delete begin insert Except as provided in subdivision
(b), if end insert the license is renewed after the expiration date, the licensee
shall also pay the delinquency fee prescribed by this chapter. begin delete If end delete

begin insert

(b) An incomplete renewal application that had originally been
submitted on or before the license expiration date shall be returned
to the licensee by the registrar with an explanation of the reasons
for its rejection. If a corrected and acceptable renewal application
is not returned within 30 days after the license expiration date,
the delinquency fee shall apply. The 30-day grace period shall
apply only to the delinquency fee. The license shall reflect an
expired status for any period between the expiration date and the
date of submission of a correct and acceptable renewal application.

end insert

begin insert (c) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert If end insert so renewed, the license shall continue in effect through
the date provided in Section 7140 that next occurs after the
effective date of the renewal, when it shall expire if it is not again
renewed.

begin delete

If

end delete

begin insert (d) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert If end insert a license is not renewed within five years, the licensee
shall make an application for a license pursuant to Section 7066.

SEC. 3.  

Section 7206 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:

7206.  

begin delete The board shall hold regular meetings at least once a
year at which an examination of applicants for certificates of
registration shall be given. end delete Special meetings shall be held upon
request of a majority of the members of the board or upon the call
of the president.

SEC. 4.  

Section 7210 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:

7210.  

It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, offer for sale,
give, hire or furnish under any other arrangement, any guide dog
begin delete or seeing-eye dog end delete or to engage in the business or occupation of
training begin delete any end delete such begin insert a end insert dog unless he begin insert or she end insert holds a valid and
unimpaired license issued pursuant to begin delete the provisions of end delete this chapter.

SEC. 5.  

Section 7851 is added to the Business and Professions
Code, to read:

7851.  

(a) The board shall issue, upon application and payment
of the fee established by Section 7887, a retired registration to a
geologist or geophysicist who has been registered by the board for
a minimum of five years within California and a minimum of 20
years within the United States or its territories, and who holds a
registration that is not suspended, revoked, or otherwise disciplined,
or subject to pending discipline under this chapter.

(b) The holder of a retired registration issued pursuant to this
section shall not engage in any activity for which an active
geologist’s or geophysicist’s registration is required. A geologist
or geophysicist holding a retired registration may use the titles
“retired professional geologist” or “professional geologist, retired,”
or “retired professional geophysicist” or “professional geophysicist,
retired.”

(c) The holder of a retired registration shall not be required to
renew that registration.

(d) In order for the holder of a retired registration, issued
pursuant to this section, to restore his or her registration to active
status, he or she shall pass the examination required for initial
registration with the board.

SEC. 6.  

Section 7887 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:

7887.  

The amount of the fees prescribed by this chapter shall
be fixed by the board in accordance with the following schedule:

(a) The fee for filing each application for registration as a
geologist or a geophysicist or certification as a specialty geologist
or a specialty geophysicist and for administration of the
examination begin insert shall be fixed end insert at not more than two hundred and fifty
dollars ($250).

(b) The registration fee for a geologist or for a geophysicist and
the fee for the certification in a specialty shall be fixed at an amount
equal to the renewal fee in effect on the last regular renewal date
before the date on which the certificate is issued, except that, with
respect to certificates that will expire less than one year after
issuance, the fee shall be fixed at an amount equal to 50 percent
of the renewal fee in effect on the last regular renewal date before
the date on which the certificate is issued. The board may, by
appropriate regulation, provide for the waiver or refund of the
initial certificate fee where the certificate is issued less than 45
days before the date on which it will expire.

(c) The duplicate certificate fee begin insert shall be fixed end insert at not more than
six dollars ($6).

(d) The temporary registration fee for a geologist or for a
geophysicist begin insert shall be fixed end insert at not more than eighty dollars ($80).

(e) The renewal fee for a geologist or for a geophysicist shall
be fixed begin delete by the board end delete at not more than four hundred dollars ($400).

(f) The renewal fee for a specialty geologist or for a specialty
geophysicist begin insert shall be fixed end insert at not more than one hundred dollars
($100).

(g) Notwithstanding Section 163.5, the delinquency fee for a
certificate is an amount equal to 50 percent of the renewal fee in
effect on the last regular renewal date.

(h) Each applicant for registration as a geologist shall pay an
examination fee fixed begin delete by the board end delete at an amount equal to the actual
cost to the board to administer the examination described in
subdivision (d) of Section 7841.

(i) Each applicant for registration as a geophysicist or
certification as an engineering geologist or certification as a
hydrogeologist shall pay an examination fee fixed by the board at
an amount equal to the actual cost to the board for the development
and maintenance of the written examination, and shall not exceed
one hundred dollars ($100).

begin insert

(j) The fee for a retired registration shall be fixed at not more
than 50 percent of the fee for filing an application for registration
as a geologist or a geophysicist in effect on the date of application
for a retired registration.

end insert

SEC. 7.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of
the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.