BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1874 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 1874 (Wood) As Amended June 14, 2016 Majority vote -------------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |76-0 |(April 28, |SENATE: |37-0 |(August 11, | | | |2016) | | |2016) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Page 2 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 Page 3 Analysis Prepared by: Vincent Chee / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301 FN: 0003745