BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 181
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
181 (Bonilla)
As Amended April 23, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+----------------------+--------------------|
|Business & |14-0 |Bonilla, Jones, | |
|Professions | |Baker, Bloom, Burke, | |
| | |Chang, Dodd, Eggman, | |
| | |Gatto, Holden, | |
| | |Mullin, Ting, Wilk, | |
| | |Wood | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |17-0 |Gomez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gordon, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Quirk, Rendon, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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AB 181
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SUMMARY: Extends the regulatory authority for the Board of
Barbering and Cosmetology (BBC) until January 1, 2020; requires
the BBC to conduct a review of its current 1,600-hour curriculum
requirements for the Cosmetologist license; requires the BBC to
review and revise protocols for its inspector program; requires
the BBC to establish a Health and Safety Advisory Committee; and,
makes minor and technical changes to delete obsolete code sections
and references. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the BBC to conduct a study and review of the 1,600-hour
training requirement for Cosmetologists and report back to
appropriate policy committees by November 1, 2018.
2)Requires the BBC to conduct a review of the Spanish-language
examination and curriculum requirements to determine if by
January 1, 2016, the pass rate for Spanish speakers did not
increase to the average pass rate for all other language
examinations during the two-year period prior to January 1,
2016.
3)Requires the BBC to adopt regulations that establish a protocol
for inspecting establishments when an inspector has difficulty
understanding or communicating with the owner, manager, or
employees of the establishment due to language barriers.
4)Requires the BBC to establish a Health and Safety Advisory
Committee to provide the BBC with advice and recommendations on
health and safety issues before the BBC.
5)Makes other technical and clarifying amendments including
deleting obsolete references to departments and reports.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, this bill will result in ongoing annual Special Fund
costs of approximately $20.5 million to the BBC Contingent Fund to
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extend the BBC beyond the January 1, 2016, sunset date. This fund
is self-supporting with fee revenue.
COMMENTS:
Purpose. This bill is one of five author-sponsored sunset bills.
According to the author, "The BBC ensures that applicants for
licensure have completed the necessary training and passed both
a written and practical examination in order to demonstrate that
licensed individuals possess the knowledge and skills required
to perform within the scope of their discipline in order to
protect the public's health and safety. In addition, the BBC is
responsible for carrying out many responsibilities which ensure
the safety of consumers and help benefit the robust licensing
populations in California. In an effort to improve the BBC's
regulatory capacity and improve administrative inefficiencies,
this bill will require the BBC to prioritize some of the issues
raised in the Committee's background paper during its sunset
review, including reviewing curriculum standards, ensuring that
the curriculum and tests are appropriate for Spanish-language
test takers, establishing a Health and Safety committee, and
making technical changes to outdated sections of the Act."
Background. The BBC licenses and regulates over 550,000
licensees. Each profession has its own scope of practice,
entry-level requirements, and professional settings, with some
overlap in areas. The BBC's licensing population includes:
Barbers; Barber Apprentices; Cosmetology Apprentices;
Cosmetologists; Electrologists; Estheticians; Manicurists;
Establishments; and, Mobile Units. The BBC's last sunset review
was completed in 2013, and at that time it was granted a
two-year extension to address outstanding issues as determined
by the Legislature.
Joint Oversight Hearings and Sunset Review of Department of
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Consumer Affairs (DCA) Licensing Boards. In March of 2015, the
Assembly Business and Professions Committee and the Senate
Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee
conducted multiple joint oversight hearings to review ten
regulatory boards and other entities within the DCA. The sunset
bills are intended to implement legislative changes recommended
in the respective background reports drafted by the committees
for the agencies reviewed this year.
The legislation pertaining to this bill is based on specific
issues raised and addressed in the report released by the
Assembly Business and Professions Committee. The BBC was last
reviewed in 2013 and received only a two-year sunset extension
because of several concerns raised during the 2013 hearing that
needed to be monitored more closely. While not all prior issues
were fully resolved, the BBC addressed most of the issues to the
satisfaction of the Committees. Therefore, this bill makes
changes to the BBC as recommended in the Assembly Business and
Professions Committee background paper, including extending the
BBC;'s sunset date to January 1, 2020, and its authority to
appoint an executive officer.
Inspector Program. An important and essential arm of the BBC's
enforcement activities is the Inspection Program, whose primary
role is enforcing health and safety regulations. This is
accomplished through directed, random, initial and targeted
inspections of the 50,473 establishments and 283 schools of
barbering, cosmetology, and electrology. Challenges with the
Inspector Program are not unique to the BBC and have previously
been raised by Legislative Committees and DCA audits. During the
BBC's 2013 sunset review, the Committee's background paper cited
"continuous problems with the Inspector Program" and requested the
BBC to address numerous issues including the inappropriate use of
the position, lack of proper training, and concerns with
vacancies. In addition to the BBC's reported inspection
challenges, stakeholders have also shared concerns with the
inspection process, especially as it pertains to language
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barriers. As noted, the BBC regulates a diverse population, which
includes many individuals with limited English proficiency, who
cannot always understand English-language inspection forms or are
met with communication problems during an inspection. Currently,
it appears that the BBC does not have a standardized protocol or
systematic process for inspectors when they encounter potential
language barriers, which may complicate the inspection process and
result in dissatisfactory outcomes for licensees. The BBC reports
that in an effort to help better identify concerns of licensees
regarding inspectors and the inspection process, it has translated
complaint forms into Vietnamese, Spanish, and Korean. The BBC
reports that it is also working with the DCA to provide training
to inspectors. In order to help address some of the challenges
with the Inspector Program, this bill will require the BBC to
develop a protocol for inspecting establishments where language
concerns exist.
Curriculum Requirement. In 2009, the BBC reports that it
transitioned to the national written examination. Since the
transition, the BBC has seen a decline in the pass rates of the
written examination. The BBC reports that this may result from
new material on the examination being "current and relevant to
today's practices" as the previous examination had been in
circulation for many years and many schools often provided
courses on how to pass the old version of the examination. It
is unclear what, if any, updates, changes, or revisions were
made to schools' curriculum standards or if reference materials
were updated as a result of the transition to the national
examination. This bill will require the BBC to review its
current curriculum standards to ensure that the 1600-hour
requirement for cosmetologists is warranted and that the
materials being taught to students are relevant to today's
practices.
In addition, the committee's background paper also noted concerns
with the Spanish-language examination pass rate which has been low
for a number of years. According to information from the United
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States Census Report in 2011, 43% of Californians, or more than 15
million residents, reported that they spoke a language other than
English at home. While the BBC's mission is mainly to protect
consumers, it also has a responsibility to its licensing
population to ensure that current licensees and potential
licensees are able to obtain the appropriate instruction and
training necessary to meet California's safety standards balanced
with a mission to expand employment and business opportunities for
individuals throughout the State. The BBC has one of the highest
licensing populations of all regulatory entities of DCA. Given
the large licensing population, the BBC needs to ensure its
diverse population obtains the appropriate education and upon
completion of a BBC-approved curriculum, is able to pass the
required licensing examinations. The Spanish-language pass rate
issue has plagued the BBC during the last two sunset reviews and
continues to be an issue. This bill will require the BBC to
conduct a review of the Spanish-language examination and
curriculum as specified.
Advisory Committee. During the BBC's 2013 sunset review, the
committee background paper raised current health and safety issues
which continue to plague the beautification industry, especially
in nail salons. The report stated, "nail salons are of particular
concern due to the high preponderance of minority women working
for extremely long hours in settings that are not properly
ventilated and having constant contact with potentially dangerous
chemicals linked to illness and reproductive health problems."
Because the continued changes in the industry and new
beautification products are brought to market, this bill requires
the BBC to establish a permanent committee which is designated to
review industry trends as they relate to health and safety
standards to ensure the timely distribution of information about
potential and growing concerns.
Analysis Prepared by:
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Elissa Silva / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301 FN:
0000727