BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1807 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 1807 (Bonta) As Amended May 27, 2016 Majority vote ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Business & |16-0 |Salas, Brough, Baker, | | |Professions | |Bloom, Campos, | | | | |Chávez, Dahle, Dodd, | | | | |Eggman, Gatto, Gomez, | | | | |Holden, Jones, | | | | |Mullin, Ting, Wood | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | | | | |Bloom, Bonilla, | | | | |Bonta, Calderon, | | | | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | | | | |Gallagher, Eduardo | | | | |Garcia, Roger | | | | |Hernández, Holden, | | | | |Jones, Obernolte, | | | | |Quirk, Santiago, | | | | |Wagner, Weber, Wood | | | | | | | | | | | | AB 1807 Page 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUMMARY: Allows a licensee of the Bureau of Real Estate (Bureau) to petition the Real Estate Commissioner (Commissioner) to remove his or her notice of disciplinary action from the Bureau's Internet Web site because the information is no longer necessary to prevent a credible risk to the public. Specifically, this bill: 1)Declares that it is appropriate for the Bureau to continue reporting on its license verification Internet Web page, which is hosted on the Bureau Web site when discipline has been imposed upon a licensee for conduct that indicates a credible risk of harm to the public; and that the Bureau may consider and grant on a case-by-case basis a licensee's petition to discontinue the posting of past disciplinary actions if he or she can provide evidence that continued posting is no longer required to reduce risk to the public. 2)Declares that the Bureau may require a petitioner to pay in advance of consideration a fee to defray costs associated with consideration of the petition. 3)Declares that the Bureau is not authorized or required to destroy public records maintained pursuant to the California Public Records Act. 4)Declares that the Legislature intends to establish a process by which a licensee may petition the Bureau to remove a notice of past discipline from the license verification Internet Web site of the Bureau. 5)Provides that a licensee may petition the Commissioner to remove the notice of discipline, as specified, if the action has been posted for at least 10 years and the licensee AB 1807 Page 3 provides evidence of rehabilitation indicating the information is no longer necessary to prevent a credible risk to the public. 6)Permits the Bureau to develop, through regulations, the minimum information to be included in a licensee's petition, including, but not limited to, a written justification and evidence of rehabilitation. 7)Sets the fee to petition the Commissioner as the same as an unrestricted license, as specified. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the Bureau anticipates costs of approximately $300,000 (special funds) beginning in 2016-17 and on-going for the associated workload to process, review and make recommendations on each request received. These costs are supported by the fee authorized in the bill. COMMENTS: Purpose. This bill provides that a licensee of the Bureau may petition the Commissioner to remove his or her notice of disciplinary action from the Bureau's Internet Web site because the licensee is no longer a credible risk to the public. This bill is sponsored by the California Association of Realtors. According to the author, "The current disciplinary system under the [Bureau] serves an important role in ensuring consumers have access to a real estate licensee's disciplinary history. That information serves as a valuable tool in protecting consumers AB 1807 Page 4 and promoting transparency. However, this tool has also negatively impacted a small class of real estate licensees who have had minor disciplinary actions on their record for many years. Even after the licensee has been rehabilitated and the license penalty has been removed, there isn't an opportunity to have that action removed from the online database. This bill simply provides the [Commissioner] the ability to determine how long certain disciplinary actions should be posted online, ensuring that rehabilitated licensees are operating on a level playing field." Background. The mission of the Bureau is to safeguard and promote the public interests in real estate matters through licensure, regulation, education and enforcement. The Bureau's jurisdiction is licensing and regulating mortgage loan originators, real estate and prepaid listing service licensees, reviewing and approving subdivision and time share offerings, and approving continuing education and pre-license courses. A real estate license must first be obtained from the Bureau if a person wishes to engage in the real estate business and to act in the capacity of, advertise, or assume to act as a real estate broker or real estate salesperson within the State of California. Currently, there are approximately 535,000 real estate licensees in California. Under current law, low-level disciplinary actions that the Bureau addresses via citation and fine do not appear on its Web site. These infractions include, among others, when a person without a real estate license engages in activities for which a real estate license is required. The Bureau investigates these situations following standards set in regulations. Violations of provisions in law that warrant disciplinary action can vary in greatly. For instance, a licensee may violate a AB 1807 Page 5 seemingly minor provision of his or her licensure in a severe way. As such, a violation of one licensee's provisions could lead to the same disciplinary action as another licensee who violated a completely different provision. Likewise, a licensee who repeatedly violates his or her provisions may have a more severe disciplinary action taken against him or her than a licensee who is noticed for his or her first violation. SB 706 (Price), Chapter 712, Statutes of 2011, requires the Commissioner to post a notice of discipline on the Bureau's Web site so that the information is available to a consumer who searches specifically for that licensee. These notices are posted to the Web site indefinitely. As such, the current version of this bill makes all past disciplinary actions ineligible to be removed from the Bureau's website until a minimum of 10 years after the enactment SB 706; therefore, the Bureau does not anticipate implementation costs until Fiscal Year 2020-21. However, according to the California Association of Realtors, some licensees have used this information to gain a competitive advantage over licensees with a record of discipline from the Bureau, even if the violation for which the licensee was disciplined is several years old, the licensee has complied with corrective actions specified in the citation, and the violation is no longer relevant to the licensee's ability to operate. The Commissioner already has the authority to review disciplinary actions against a licensee and evaluate whether the disciplinary action should be modified. This bill would provide an avenue for licensees to request a disciplinary action on the BRE's Web site be removed if the Commissioner agrees that there is evidence of rehabilitation and the licensee is not a potential risk to consumers. AB 1807 Page 6 Analysis Prepared by: Gabby Nepomuceno / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301 FN: 0003332