BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1874
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
1874 (Wood)
As Amended June 14, 2016
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |76-0 |(April 28, |SENATE: |37-0 |(August 11, |
| | |2016) | | |2016) |
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Original Committee Reference: B. & P.
SUMMARY: Requires a licensed "qualifying manager" to be
physically present at the licensee's principal office or branch
office location for a minimum of nine days every three
consecutive calendar months, and requires that the hours be
documented and provided to the Structural Pest Control Board
(SPCB) upon request.
The Senate amendments are non-substantive. They combine the 72
hours required into nine days.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS:
AB 1874
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Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the Pest Control Operators
of California. According to the author, this bill "will help
ensure that the companies performing structural pest control
will do so with adequate supervision."
Background. In California, a "registered company" is defined as
any business organization, such as a sole proprietorship or
corporation. In order to provide structural pest control
services as a registered company, a business organization must
register with the SPCB and designate a "qualifying manager."
The qualifying manager must be a structural pest control
operator, an individual who is licensed by the SPCB and is
responsible for supervising the daily business of the
organization. While the qualifying manager must "be available
to supervise and assist the company's employees," the phrase
"available to supervise and assist" is not defined.
The sponsor states that the lack of a definition has resulted in
a loophole where licensed operators are "renting" their licenses
to a registered company that needs to designate a qualifying
manager. Because there is no language specifying that a
licensed operator has to be physically available, it is possible
to charge a registered company a recurring fee to use their
license number with minimal involvement in the company.
According to the sponsors, bad actors are able to argue that
they can satisfy the availability and supervision requirements
over the phone or through video conferencing.
Therefore, this bill seeks to impose a minimum physical presence
requirement on operator licensees. The goal of the requirement
is to deter the practice of using the loophole to avoid having
to actually supervise. This change was approved by the SPCB's
Act Review Committee, which reviews the structural pest control
practice act and recommends changes to the full SPCB. The
approval was adopted by the SPCB last year at its January 14,
2015 meeting.
AB 1874
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Analysis Prepared by:
Vincent Chee / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301 FN:
0003745