BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1243| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINES Bill No: SB 1243 Author: Lieu (D), et al. Amended: 8/18/14 Vote: 21 SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEV.COMM. : 9-0, 4/28/14 AYES: Lieu, Wyland, Berryhill, Block, Corbett, Galgiani, Hernandez, Hill, Padilla SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/23/14 AYES: De León, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg SENATE FLOOR : 36-0, 5/27/14 AYES: Anderson, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Knight, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nielsen, Padilla, Pavley, Roth, Steinberg, Torres, Vidak, Walters, Wolk, Wyland NO VOTE RECORDED: Calderon, Liu, Wright, Yee ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-1, 8/25/14 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Professions and vocations SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill increases the transparency of information distributed by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA); requires the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) to submit specified reports to the Legislature annually; enhances CONTINUED SB 1243 Page 2 unlicensed advertising enforcement; extends, until January 1, 2017, the provisions establishing the Veterinary Medical Board (VMB) and the term of the executive officer (EO); sets the operative date of the veterinary assistant controlled substance program for July 1, 2015; and extends the Certified Common Interest Development (CID) Manager program and the Tax Preparer program until January 1, 2019. Assembly Amendments add provisions relating to the OAH, public meeting notices, DCA reporting and enforcement requirements, and VMB controlled substance permits; and make technical, nonsubstantive, and conforming changes. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1. Specifies that DCA is comprised of various boards, bureaus, commissions, committees, and similarly constituted agencies that license and regulate the practice of various professions and vocations; and requires those agencies to hold public meetings and provide public notice of a meeting. 2. Authorizes certain agencies within DCA to issue a citation, including an order of correction, to a person who is advertising in a telephone directory with respect to the offering or performance of services, without being properly licensed by or registered with the agency; and authorizes those agencies to notify the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) if a person does not comply with a final order of correction, and requires the PUC to require the telephone corporation providing the telephone services to disconnect the service. 3. Imposes specified duties on DCA and allows DCA to levy a charge for the estimated administrative expenses in advance on a pro rata share basis against funds of an agency comprising DCA. 4. Requires an agency to investigate a consumer accusation or compliant against a licensee and, where appropriate, the agency is authorized to impose disciplinary action against a licensee; and permits an agency to refer a compliant to the Attorney General (AG) or OAH for further action. CONTINUED SB 1243 Page 3 5. Requires the Director of DCA to submit an annual report to the Governor and the Legislature, on or before January 1, that includes information regarding consumer complaints and the action taken on those complaints. 6. Regulates the practice of veterinary medicine; and provides, until January 1, 2016, for the VMB; and authorizes VMB, until January 1, 2016, to appoint a person exempt from civil service to be designated as an EO of VMB, as specified. 7. Requires, beginning January 1, 2015, a veterinary assistant to obtain a controlled substance permit from VMB in order to administer a controlled substance, and requires VMB to revoke a veterinary controlled substance permit upon notification that the veterinary assistant has been convicted of a state or federal felony controlled substance violation. 8. Regulates the practice of CID managers, and makes those provisions effective only until January 1, 2015. 9. Establishes the California Tax Education Council (CTEC), a nonprofit organization, and requires CTEC to register and regulate tax preparers, until January 1, 2015. This bill: 1. Permits an agency under DCA that is required to provide specified meeting notifications to provide notice by regular mail, email, or both and specifies that the agency give the requester the option; and requires DCA to comply with the requester's chosen form or forms of notification, as specified. 2. Requires an agency that plans to Web cast a meeting to include in the meeting notice, as specified, a statement of the board's intent to Web cast the meeting, and permits the Web casting of a meeting in the absence of the statement of intent. 3. Expands the current authority to request telephone disconnection, for advertising of unlicensed activity in any form of advertisement, not just in a telephone directory, as currently permitted and provides this authority to all CONTINUED SB 1243 Page 4 boards, bureaus, committees, commissions or programs under DCA. 4. Requires DCA to continue to develop and make available training courses for employees who perform enforcement functions to attend enforcement training, as specified. 5. Requires DCA to develop the enforcement academy curricula in consultation and cooperation with the AG and the OAH, as specified. 6. Requires DCA to submit a report of the accounting of the pro rata calculation of administrative expenses to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature on or before July 1, 2015, and on or before July 1, of each subsequent year. 7. Requires DCA to conduct a one-time study of its current system for prorating administrative expenses, which must include consideration of whether some of the administrative services offered by DCA should be outsourced or charged on an as needed basis, and whether the agencies should be permitted to elect not to receive and be charged for certain administrative services, and requires the finding to be included in the report referenced in #6 above. 8. Requires DCA to promptly submit a report from the third-party consultant, if it chooses to hire a third-party consultant, to assess its operations, as specified. 9. Clarifies that the required information contained in DCA's annual report to the Governor and the Legislature include, from the previous fiscal year, the average length of time for a constituent entity to reach each of the following milestones in the enforcement process: A. Average number of days from when a constituent entity receives a complaint until the constituent entity assigns an investigator to the complaint; B. Average number of days from a constituent entity opening an investigation conducted by the constituent entity staff or the Division of Investigation to closing the investigation regardless of outcome; and CONTINUED SB 1243 Page 5 C. Average number of days from a constituent entity closing an investigation to imposing formal discipline. 1. Requires the report described in #9 above, to be submitted in compliance with the Government Code, as specified. 2. Requires OAH to submit a report to DCA, the Governor, and the Legislature on or before January 1, 2016, and on or before January 1, of each subsequent year that includes, at a minimum, all of the following for the previous fiscal year: A. Number of cases referred by each constituent entity to each office of the OAH for a hearing; B. Average number of days from receiving a request to setting a hearing date at each office of the OAH; C. Average number of days from setting a hearing to conducting a hearing; and D. Average number of days after conducting a hearing to transmitting the proposed decision by each office of the OAH. 1. Makes legislative findings and declarations stating that DCA is currently providing opportunities for employees of agencies comprising DCA who perform enforcement functions to attend an entry level enforcement academy; and it is in the best interest of consumers in the state for DCA to continue to provide ongoing training opportunities for employees performing enforcement functions for each agency comprising DCA. 2. Extends the sunset date of the VMB until January 1, 2017. 3. Specifies that the VMB veterinary assistant controlled substance permit program shall become operative on July 1, 2015, instead of the later of January 1, 2015, as specified. 4. Makes other technical and clarifying changes to the veterinary assistant controlled substance permit program. CONTINUED SB 1243 Page 6 5. Extends the authority of the VMB to appoint an executive office until January 1, 2017. 6. Extends the sunset date for the CID manager program until January 1, 2019. 7. Extends the sunset date for CTEC until January 1, 2019. 8. Makes findings and declarations pertaining to the training of employees performing enforcement functions. 9. Makes other technical and clarifying changes. Background This bill is one of six "sunset review bills" authored by the Chair of the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development (BPED) Committee. Unless legislation is carried this year to extend the sunset dates of the certified CID manager program and Tax Preparer program, they will both be repealed on January 1, 2015. The repeal date for the VMB and its EO has been extended for one year, to January 1, 2017, to allow sufficient time for the VMB to address issues which have been identified by this Committee. In 2014, the Senate BPED Committee and the Assembly Business, Professions and Consumer Protection Committee conducted joint oversight hearings to review nine regulatory entities: Bureau of Automotive Repair; Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation; Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education; California Massage Therapy Certification program; California Board of Acupuncture; California Tax Preparer program; Dental Hygiene Committee of California; Professional Fiduciaries Bureau; and the Structural Pest Control Board. The Senate BPED Committee also reviewed the performance and effectiveness of the CID manager program. The Committees began their review of the aforementioned licensing agencies in March and conducted two days of hearings. This bill, and the accompanying sunset bills, are intended to implement legislative changes as recommended in the Committee's Background Papers prepared for each agency and program reviewed CONTINUED SB 1243 Page 7 by the Committees for this year. NOTE: For a summary of the issues and recommendations relating to the Tax Preparer program, refer to the Senate BPED Committee analysis of April 28, 2014. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee: 1. On-going costs to DCA in the range of $300,000 (General Fund) to conduct the required administrative expenses study, and to meet the expanded requirements of DCA's annual report. Additional unknown costs associated with the enforcement training requirement. 2. VMB: On-going special fund costs of approximately $4.5 million annually (VMB Contingency Fund), supporting 23.8 personnel years, to extend the sunset until January 1, 2017, largely offset by fee revenues. Costs to DCA of extending the sunset are minor and absorbable within existing resources. 3. No state costs associated with extending the CID manager and Tax Preparer programs. SUPPORT : (Verified 8/26/14) California Association of Community Managers Medical Board of California ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-1, 8/25/14 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V. CONTINUED SB 1243 Page 8 Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins NOES: Fox NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly, Vacancy MW:k 8/26/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED