BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 483 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 483 (Patterson) - As Amended April 9, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Business and Professions |Vote:|14 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill requires the initial license fee for the following licensing categories to be prorated on a monthly basis: dentists, dental hygienists, physicians and surgeons, hearing aid dispensers, occupational therapists, physical therapists, AB 483 Page 2 veterinary technicians, veterinarians, acupuncturists, and architects. FISCAL EFFECT: 1)Revenue loss to affected boards attributable to lower average initial licensure fees of at least several hundred thousand dollars annually (various special funds). This may increase pressure on boards to raise fees. However, in some cases, fees are already set at their statutory maximums. 2)Minor and absorbable costs to affected licensing boards associated with changing cashiering procedures, forms and materials (various special funds). 3)$140,000 in Information Technology expenditures due to licensing system modifications. (various special funds). COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. This bill requires initial licensing fees for specified healing arts practitioners and architects to be prorated on a monthly basis, to ensure that licensees are charged fees in a fair manner and are not disadvantaged based on their birth month. This bill is author-sponsored. 2)Birth Date Renewal Program. Many boards and bureaus under Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) operate a birth date renewal program. Instead of basing license renewals on the AB 483 Page 3 date of issuance of the initial license, which would result in the boards facing the same influx of applications year after year, most boards renew licenses based on birth date, rather than the date the license was issued, which allows the boards to spread out that work throughout the year. 3)Related Legislation. AB 773 (Baker), pending on the Assembly Floor, makes psychologist's initial licensure for a 2-year period, with expiration based on licensure date instead of birthdate. 4)Previous Legislation. a) AB 1758 (Patterson) of 2014 as introduced was similar to this bill. AB 1758 was amended in this committee to address concerns related to mismatch of initial licensure workload and revenue, and was ultimately held in Senate Appropriations Committee. b) SB 2014 (Machado) of 2002 directed the MBC to prorate its annual licensing fees in cases where the initial licensure period is less than two years, and deleted an obsolete oral examination fee authority. That bill was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee. c) SB 1045 (Murray) of 2000 would have directed the MBC to prorate its annual licensing fees in cases where the initial licensure period is less than two years. That bill was held in the Senate. d) SB 663 (Maddy), Chapter 626, Statutes of 1992, authorized the Veterinary Medical Board (VMB) to adopt regulations for the waiver or refund of initial registration fees if the registration is issued less than 45 days before it will expire. 1)Staff Comments. As currently drafted, this bill may result in a mismatch between fees and workload. The fee for initial licensure must support initial licensure workload, such as AB 483 Page 4 initial verification of education and experience, as well as ongoing oversight workload for the period of the license. Some level of proration appears reasonable, but in some cases where the initial licensures will only be in effect for a short period of time, fees prorated on a monthly basis may not be adequate to cover the workload costs of initial licensure. Initial licensure requires a set amount of workload regardless of the length of the license. The Medical Board for example, charges an application fee in addition to initial licensure fee to cover the costs of establishing a license. Initial licensure and/or application fees should be adequate to cover the cost of establishing a license. The author may wish to ensure that is the case for each board when moving to a prorated system. Analysis Prepared by:Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081