BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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