BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
AB 921 (Jones) - Private investigators: Disciplinary Review
Committee
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|Version: June 24, 2015 |Policy Vote: B., P. & E.D. 9 - |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: July 13, 2015 |Consultant: Mark McKenzie |
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This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill
Summary: AB 921 would establish a Private Investigator
Disciplinary Review Committee (DRC) within the Bureau of
Security and Investigative Services (BSIS) to consider appeals
of administrative fines and decisions to deny, suspend, or
revoke a Private Investigator's license.
Fiscal
Impact:
Estimated BSIS costs of approximately $14,000 annually to hold
four DRC hearings. (Private Investigator Fund)
AB 921 (Jones) Page 1 of
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BSIS staff costs of approximately $33,000 annually for 0.5 PY
of administrative workload associated with DRC activities.
(Private Investigator Fund)
Minor and absorbable costs to make necessary IT changes to the
BreEZe system. (Private Investigator Fund)
Background: Pursuant to existing law, the BSIS, within the Department of
Consumer Affairs (DCA), licenses and regulates approximately
380,000 companies and employees serving in the areas of alarm
services, locksmith services, private investigation, private
security, repossession, and firearm and baton training. Based
on the past three fiscal years, the BSIS issues an average of
1,900 company licenses, 71,000 employee registrations, and
12,000 Bureau firearm permits annually. In addition, the BSIS
renews an average of 9,500 company licenses, 105,000 employee
registrations, and 11,500 Bureau firearm permits each year. The
BSIS is responsible for regulating the following six areas of
state law: the Alarm Company Act; the Locksmith Act; the Private
Investigator Act; the Private Security Services Act; the
Proprietary Security Services Act; and the Collateral Recovery
Act.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of
private investigators (PIs) by the BSIS under the under the
Private Investigator Act (Act), and defines a PI as a person,
firm, company, association, partnership, or corporation, other
than an insurance adjuster, who engages in business to protect
persons or makes investigations for the purpose of obtaining
information related to specified activities. The Director of
DCA is authorized to deny, suspend, or revoke a PI license if he
or she determines that the licensee violated specified
provisions. Existing law authorizes the Director to impose a
civil penalty of up to $500 instead of suspending or revoking a
license if it better serves the purposes of the Act. Existing
law also establishes adjudicatory procedures for hearings of
BSIS actions to deny, suspend, or revoke licenses.
Existing law provides for three DRCs within BSIS; the Private
Security Services Act establishes two DRCs (one each in Northern
and Southern California), and the Alarm Company Act establishes
one DRC. The DRCs provide their respective applicants and
AB 921 (Jones) Page 2 of
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licensees an alternate path to appeal BSIS decisions to assess
administrative fines or deny, suspend, or revoke licenses. Each
year, approximately 900 licensees request an appeal of BSIS
decisions to impose fines and deny or suspend a license through
one of the existing DRCs.
Proposed Law:
AB 921 would require the Governor to appoint a Private
Investigator DRC, comprised of five specified members, and
authorize PI licensees to appeal the assessment of
administrative fines and decisions to deny, suspend, or revoke a
license. The bill requires a request for appeal to the DRC to
be made in writing within 30 days of the action against the
licensee, and requires the appellant to be notified of the DRC's
decision within 30 days. If the appellant disagrees with the
DRC's decision, he or she may request a hearing pursuant to
current appeals procedures within 30 days of the DRC's decision.
The bill also authorizes an applicant for a PI license to submit
an email address with the application.
Related
Legislation: AB 281 (Gallagher), which is pending in this
Committee, would establish a Collateral Recovery DRC that would
consider requests from licensed repossessors to appeal
administrative fines and decisions to deny a license, among
other changes to the Collateral Recovery Act.
Staff
Comments: This bill is intended to provide an alternative and
expedited procedure for review of assessments of fines against a
licensee or actions to deny, suspend, or revoke a PI license.
The current administrative process for contesting a fine or
appealing a license decision can sometimes take over a year.
DCA indicates that any costs to develop and adopt regulations
specifying a DRC process would be minor since BSIS currently has
three other DRCs that can be used as a model that could be
easily replicated. BSIS estimates that, based upon the number
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of citations and license actions, the DRC would hold four
hearings annually at a cost of approximately $3,500 per hearing.
Costs to allow an applicant for a PI license to provide an email
address would be negligible since current forms already contain
a field for that information.
Proposed Author
Amendments: The author has proposed amendments to delay the
requirement for the Governor to appoint a Private Investigator
DRC until July 1, 2017.
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