BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1467
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1467 (Business, Professions and Economic Development
Committee)
As Amended August 18, 2014
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE : 36-0
BUSINESS & PROFESSIONS 13-0 APPROPRIATIONS
16-1
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|Ayes:|Bonilla, Jones, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow, |
| |Bocanegra, Campos, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Dickinson, Eggman, | |Calderon, Campos, Eggman, |
| |Gordon, Hagman, Holden, | |Gomez, Holden, Jones, |
| |Maienschein, Mullin, | |Linder, Pan, Quirk, |
| |Skinner, Ting | |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, |
| | | |Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Donnelly |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Makes numerous minor, non-controversial, and
substantive changes as well as technical changes to the Business
and Professions Code (BPC). Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes the following changes relating to the California Board
of Accountancy (CBA):
a) Authorizes the CBA to collect, but not require, a valid
electronic mail address from applicants or those renewing a
license;
b) Provides that an electronic mail address collected by
the CBA shall be treated as confidential;
c) Makes legislative findings and declarations that the
electronic addresses provided to the CBA are confidential;
d) Removes the requirement that two of the Governor's seven
appointees to the CBA must represent a small public
accounting firm, and removes the definition of a small
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public accounting firm;
e) Authorizes the CBA to, by regulation, allow experience
in academia to satisfy the one-year experience requirement
for a Certified Public Accountant license;
f) Clarifies that a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) who
is licensed in another state and who holds and exercises a
practice privilege in California, must notify the CBA in
writing of any pending criminal charges within 30 days;
and,
g) Require, until January 1, 2019, that the CBA consult
with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
2)Makes the following changes relating to the Board for
Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists
(BPELSG):
a) Incorporates cross-references to Education Code and
Health and Safety Code Sections that require structural
engineers to prepare plans for hospitals and schools;
b) Adds language to specify that the engineer designated as
the person in responsible charge of professional civil
engineering work of a public agency is responsible for
ensuring compliance with monument preservation
requirements;
c) Requires that at least one person authorized to practice
land surveying be designated as the person in responsible
charge of professional land surveying work practiced in any
public agency;
d) Updates the second division examination requirement for
professional engineers to delete the requirement that the
examination be an eight-hour examination;
e) Removes references to the obsolete title of "petroleum
geologist;" and,
f) Adds a section to the Geologist and Geophysicist Act
which specifically addresses petitions for reinstatement of
revoked licenses and petitions for reduction or
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modification or penalty probations orders.
3)Makes the following changes relating to general businesses:
a) Allows unincorporated associations to apply for
fictitious business name registration;
b) Simplifies the process to apply for fictitious business
name registration; and,
c) Clarifies that professional photocopiers must maintain a
valid notary commission throughout their certificate of
registration period.
4)Makes other clarifying and technical changes.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, minor and absorbable costs to the Department of
Consumer Affairs.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose. This bill is one of two committee bills authored by
the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development
Committee (Committee) and is intended to consolidate
non-controversial provisions related to various regulatory
programs and professions governed by the BPC. Consolidating
the provisions in one bill is designed to relieve the various
licensing boards, bureaus, professions and other regulatory
agencies from the necessity and burden of having separate
measures for non-controversial revisions.
Many of the provisions of this bill are minor, technical and
updating changes, while other provisions are substantive
changes intended to improve the ability of various licensing
programs and other entities to efficiently and effectively
administer their respective laws.
However, 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. This bill is sponsored by the California Board of
Accountancy California; the Land Surveyors Association
Structural Engineers Association of California; the Board for
Professional Engineers, the Land Surveyors and Geologists, the
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Contractors State Licensing Board; and the California
Association of Clerks and Election Officials
2)Author's statement. According to the author, "Consolidating
the provisions in one bill is designed to relieve the various
licensing boards, agencies and professions from the necessity
and burden of having separate measures for a number of
non-controversial revisions. Many are minor, technical and
updating changes, while other provisions are substantive
changes intended to improve the ability of various licensing
programs and other entities to efficiently and effectively
administer their respective laws." This bill is
author-sponsored.
3)CBA. Created by statute, the CBA's legal mandate is to
regulate the accounting profession for the public interest by
establishing and maintaining entry standards of qualification
and conduct within the accounting profession, primarily
through its authority to license. In California, the
accounting profession's licensed practitioners are the CPA and
the Public Accountant (PA). The CBA currently regulates over
81,000 licensees, the largest group of licensed accounting
professionals in the nation, including individuals,
partnerships, and corporations.
According to CBA, the vast majority of licensees has an e-mail
address and prefers e-mail communications. While the e-mail
addresses that are allowed to be collected by this bill would
never be used for sensitive communications, it is anticipated
that an e-mail list could be used for communicating important
and timely information regarding a wide range of topics that
could include urgent legislation and regulation issues,
problems with computer systems, or other unforeseen
emergencies, according to CBA.
CBA contends that allowing experience in academia to count
towards the general experience requirement for CPA licensure
would begin to bridge the gap between theory and practice by
allowing more accounting professors to obtain a CPA license.
Bringing practical experience into the classroom benefits
students, the accounting profession, and most importantly, the
consumers of California.
This bill adds the phrases "in writing" and "within 30 days of
the date the individual has knowledge of such charges" to
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existing law. This change mirrors the wording and timeframe
of other sections of law which establish reporting
requirements for licensees. In addition, the section
clarifies that it applies only to those exercising the
practice privilege in California. Adding the timeframe will
eliminate the possibility of practice privilege holders
putting off notifying CBA of pending criminal charges which
will assist CBA in protecting the consumers of California. It
will also avoid unnecessary reporting by those who never
intend to practice in California, according to CBA.
In addition, this bill would corrects a drafting error by moving
the requirement that the CBA consult, until January 1, 2015,
with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission to practice
privilege requirements which are in effect only until January
1, 2019.
4)BPELSG. BPELSG has the authority to investigate complaints of
violations of the Professional Engineers Act, the Professional
Land Surveyors' Act, and the Geologist and Geophysicist Act,
such as fraud, deceit, misrepresentation, negligence,
incompetence, breach of contract, failure to use a written
contract, failure to record of survey map, aiding and
abetting, violating the Codes of Professional Conduct, and
practicing without a license. Enforcement actions include, but
are not limited to, suspending licenses, revoking licenses,
placing licensees on probation, issuing administrative
citations, and referring the matter to the district attorney
for criminal prosecution.
BPELSG regulates the practices of professional engineering,
professional land surveying, professional geology, and
professional geophysics and licenses professional engineers,
professional land surveyors, professional geologists, and
professional geophysicists.
BPELSG proposes removing the reference to an "eight-hour"
examination in current law, stating that since BPELSG has
changed how the examination is administered, the reference to
the timeframe is no longer relevant. Since October 2011,
BPELSG has utilized computer-based testing centers to
administer its licensing examinations. Examinations are
offered at a multitude of testing sites throughout the nation.
BPELSG states that the main purpose in developing and
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administering exams is to test the examinees knowledge and
experience.
BPELSG states that existing code section referring to petroleum
geologists has existed since the inception of the Geology Act
in 1968, but there has never been a known consumer or industry
need to provide for a separate certification of petroleum
geology. A professional geologist license authorizes a person
to perform petroleum geology, so a separate certification
appears to be redundant. This bill removes the reference to
that obsolete certification.
According to the California Land Surveyors Association,
monuments used in land surveying are frequently disturbed or
altered, and the statutory responsibility for replacing and
perpetuating these monuments for the public is ambiguous.
This bill adds language to identify that "designated person in
responsible charge" is responsible for monument preservation
for work.
This bill also provides under the Geologist and Geophysicist Act
the same provisions that apply under the Professional
Engineers Act and the Professional Land Surveyors Act relating
to petitions for reinstatement of revoked licenses and
petitions for reduction or modification or penalty probations
orders.
This bill also amends the Professional Engineers Act to
reference provisions that require plans to be prepared by a
structural engineer for school structures, in accordance with
existing provisions of the Education Code, and for hospital
structures, in accordance with relevant provisions of the
Health and Safety Code. Currently, laws relating structural
engineers span three different Codes, with none of the codes
referencing the others. These amendments would make this
information more accessible and clear.
5)Fictitious business licenses. According to California
Association of Clerks and Election Officials (CACEO), current
law does not provide an appropriate process for
"unincorporated associations" to complete the fictitious
business name (FBN) registration. The current law also
requires a higher level of scrutiny than is needed to identify
corporations and LLC's, which creates a more expensive and
time-consuming process than is necessary to carry out the
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intent of AB 1325 (Lara), Chapter 368, Statutes of 2012. This
bill creates a subcategory for "unincorporated associations"
that will facilitate their registration, and provides a less
costly/time consuming process for corporations/LLC's to
properly identify themselves for FBN registration.
6)Professional photocopiers. According to CACEO, current law
only requires a person registering as a professional
photocopier with the county clerk to possess a "current
commission to act as a notary from the Secretary of State."
Since the notary commission expires after four years, there is
a possibility that it could lapse during the course of the
two-year professional photocopier registration with the
county. This bill requires a professional photocopier to
maintain a valid notary commission.
Analysis Prepared by : Eunie Linden / B., P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301
FN: 0004639