BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 822 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 822 (Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee) As Amended June 12, 2013 Majority vote SENATE VOTE :36-0 BUSINESS & PROFESSIONS 12-0APPROPRIATIONS 17-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Gordon, Bocanegra, |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow, | | |Campos, Dickinson, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian | | |Eggman, Hagman, Holden, | |Calderon, Campos, | | |Maienschein, Mullin, | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, | | |Skinner, Ting, Wilk | |Hall, Holden, Linder, | | | | |Pan, Quirk, Wagner, Weber | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Makes several technical changes to provisions within the Business and Professions Code (BPC) related to the regulation of various professions, including those overseen by the California Board of Accountancy (CBA), the Contractors' State License Board (CSLB), the Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind (BGDB), and the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists (BPELSG). Specifically, this bill : 1)Repeals an outdated section of the BPC requiring the Cemetery Board and Funeral Directors and Embalmers Board to consolidate by January 1, 1996. 2)Repeals an outdated section of the BPC that required the Structural Pest Control Board to make certain reports and take specific actions by January 1, 1996. 3)Makes the following changes related to the CBA: a) Requires an out-of-state practice privilege holder to notify the CBA of pending criminal charges in any jurisdiction, and allows the CBA to initiate an SB 822 Page 2 investigation to determine whether there is immediate consumer harm; and, b) Authorizes the CBA to issue citations for violations to the BPC to out-of-state licensees practicing in California under practice privilege. 4)Makes the following changes related to CSLB: a) Specifies that the term "contractor" or "consultant" does not include a certified common interest development (CID) manager, and clarifies that a CID manager is not required to hold a contractor's license to perform management services; b) Repeals the requirement that the CSLB post a listing of all applications approved during the previous 12 months at its quarterly meetings, and deletes a reference to the outdated requirement to perform "field" investigations for a specialty license; c) Clarifies the registrar's authority to order a licensee to make restitution for aiding or abetting unlicensed activity; and, d) Provides that a license renewal applicant who submitted an incomplete renewal application prior to his or her license expiration date will not be required to pay the delinquency fee, if CSLB returned the incomplete application to the applicant for corrections, and then the licensee resubmitted the completed and acceptable application within 30 days of the license expiration date. 5)Makes the following changes related to the BGDB: a) Deletes the requirement that the BGDB hold meetings at least once a year for the purposes of administering licensing examinations to guide dog instructor applicants; and, SB 822 Page 3 b) Deletes a reference to "seeing-eye dog" to refer only to "guide dog." 6)Makes the following changes related to the BPELSG: a) Establishes a retired status license for a professional 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; b) Provides that the fee for a retired registration for a professional geologist or geophysicist shall be fixed at not more than 50% of the license fee that is in effect on the date of application for a retired registration; and, c) Makes technical changes to BPC Sections 7851 and 7887, replacing references to the term "registration" with "license." FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee: 1)This bill provides an exception to the current requirement that a licensee renewing his or her contractor's license pay a delinquency fee in the cases where an incomplete application has been returned to the applicant by CSLB. Under this bill, an applicant will not have to pay the delinquency fee if he or she returns the application within 30 days and the applicant's current license has not expired. CSLB estimates a potential loss of revenue from delinquency fees in the range of $100,000 per year. 2)The remaining costs associated with this legislation are minor and absorbable within the affected boards' budgets. COMMENTS : 1)Purpose of this bill . This bill is one of three committee bills authored and sponsored by the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee for the purpose SB 822 Page 4 of consolidating multiple non-controversial revisions into a single bill. As a committee bill, "if controversy or opposition should arise regarding any provision that cannot be resolved, then that provision will be removed from the bill. This will eliminate the chance of placing any of the other provisions in jeopardy." By combining the provisions related to various regulatory programs and professions governed by the BPC into one bill, this bill provides relief to the different licensing boards, bureaus, professions and other regulatory agencies that would have to otherwise separate out each measure. 2)Provisions related to the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau . BPC Section 102.1 was made obsolete when AB 2888 (Consumer Protection, Governmental Efficiency and Economic Development Committee), Chapter 568, Statutes of 2000, consolidated the Cemetery Board and Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers into the current Cemetery and Funeral Bureau. 3)Provisions related to the Structural Pest Board . BPC Section 102.2 required the Structural Pest Control Board to make certain reports during the 1995-96 Budget Year, and specified that the specific contingencies needed to occur January 1, 1996. As this date has passed, this outdated section in no longer relevant. 4)Provisions related to the California Board of Accountancy . Under current law, an out-of-state licensee who exercises a practice privilege in California is not required to notify the CBA of any pending criminal charges, which leads to inconsistent notifications. This bill would require such notifications. Beginning July 1, 2013, BPC Section 5096.2 authorizes CBA to revoke, suspend, or fine a practice privilege holder for specified violations, but does not authorize the CBA to issue citations to out-of-state licensees practicing in California. This bill would rectify that situation by permitting CBA to cite out-of-state licenses. SB 822 Page 5 5)Provisions related to the Contractors' State License Board . According to the CSLB, "there are duplicative posting requirements for licensure applications found under the Contractors' State License Law in BPC 7080.5 and BPC 7065." This bill strikes the second reference, and also removes the outdated term "field" investigations, which consist strictly of review of documents. CSLB states that "without a change to BPC 7114, a restitution order cannot be included in an accusation, even though the underlying charge of aiding and abetting unlicensed practice is included in the pleading for disciplinary action. As such, restitution cannot be a condition for reinstatement of the license, and the consumer must try to recoup financial losses through other means, such as a civil action." Each month CSLB receives a number of licensee renewal applications that are submitted with errors. These applications cannot be processed, and must be returned to the licensee to make corrections. In cases where licensees must correct and resend their renewals back to CSLB, they often miss the deadline and are charged the delinquency fee even though they made a good-faith effort to submit the application on time. This bill provides that an incomplete renewal application that had originally been submitted on or before the license expiration date may be returned within 30 days after the license expiration date, and the delinquency fee shall not apply. 6)Provisions related to the Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind . According to BGDB, "In 2005, the BDGB conducted an Occupational Analysis which created a legally defensible examination involving subject matter experts conducting the instructor examinations, as opposed to Board Members." For this reason, an amendment to BPC Section 7203 is necessary for clarification. The term "seeing-eye dog" is trademarked by the Seeing Eye Dog School in New Jersey, and refers to a specific type of dog from this school. Eliminating reference to "seeing-eye dog," SB 822 Page 6 in BPC Section 7210 and using only the term "guide dog" brings updated terminology to the Code. 7)Provisions related to the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists . Currently, there is no option for a retired geologist or geophysicist to obtain a "retired" license status after he or she is no longer practicing. Many retirees would like the opportunity to have the choice of a retired status, which engineers and land surveyors already have under the Professional Engineers Act and the Professional Land Surveyors Act. 8)Provisions related to Fictitious Business Name Statements . According to the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, AB 1325 (Lara), Chapter 368, Statutes of 2012, made a number of changes relating to fictitious business names, including making references to "married couple" rather than to "husband and wife." This bill would conform BPC Section 17914, which still refers to "husband and wife" to the modern terminology. Analysis Prepared by : Angela Pontes / B.,P. & C.P. / (916) 319-3301 FN: 0001578