BILL NUMBER: SB 822 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
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 pursuant to
Section 7099 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. (a) 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 ,
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.
If Except as provided in subdivision (b), if
the license is renewed after the expiration date, the licensee
shall also pay the delinquency fee prescribed by this chapter.
If
(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.
(c) If 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.
If
(d) If 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. The board shall hold regular meetings at least
once a year at which an examination of applicants for certificates of
registration shall be given. 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 or seeing-eye dog or to engage in the business
or occupation of training any such a
dog unless he or she holds a valid and unimpaired license
issued pursuant to the provisions of 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 shall be fixed 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 shall be fixed at not
more than six dollars ($6).
(d) The temporary registration fee for a geologist or for a
geophysicist shall be fixed at not more than eighty
dollars ($80).
(e) The renewal fee for a geologist or for a geophysicist shall be
fixed by the board at not more than four hundred
dollars ($400).
(f) The renewal fee for a specialty geologist or for a specialty
geophysicist shall be fixed 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 by the board 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).
(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.
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.