AB 2632,
as amended, Olsen. Privatebegin delete Investigators:end deletebegin insert investigators:end insert experience for licensure.
Existing law, the Private Investigator Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of private investigators by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services within the Department of Consumer Affairs and requires the Director of Consumer Affairs to administer and enforce the act. Existing law requires an applicant for licensure under that act to take an examination. Existing law requires an applicant for examination to have experience in certain activities performed in connection with investigations, as specified, and only if the activities are performed by persons who are employed or managed in certain capacities, including, among others, persons trained as investigators and employed by a public defender to conduct investigations.
This bill would include, under the above-mentioned experience required to take the licensure examination,
personsbegin insert employed by a media source who areend insert trained as investigative reportersbegin insert andend insert whose experience is comprised of primary investigations, asbegin delete defined, and who meet an additional specified requirement. The bill would also define terms for these purposes.end deletebegin insert defined.end insert
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 7541.1 of the Business and Professions
2Code is amended to read:
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, experience for
4purposes of taking the examination for licensure as a private
5investigator shall be limited to those activities actually performed
6in connection with investigations, as defined in Section 7521, and
7only if those activities are performed by persons who are employed
8or managed in the following capacities:
9(1) Sworn law enforcement officers possessing powers of arrest
10and employed by agencies in the federal, state, or local government.
11(2) Military police of the armed forces of the United States or
12the National Guard.
13(3) An insurance adjuster or their employees subject to Chapter
141 (commencing with Section 14000) of Division 5 of the Insurance
15Code.
16(4) Persons employed by a private investigator who are duly
17licensed in accordance with this chapter, or managed by a qualified
18manager in accordance with Section 7536.
19(5) Persons employed by repossessors duly licensed in
20accordance with Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 7500),
21only to the extent that those persons are routinely and regularly
22engaged in the location of debtors or the location of personal
23property utilizing methods commonly known as “skip tracing.”
24For purposes of this section, only that experience acquired in that
25skip tracing shall be credited toward qualification to take the
26examination.
27(6) Persons duly trained and certified as an arson investigator
28and employed by a public agency engaged in fire suppression.
29(7) Persons trained as investigators and employed by a public
30defender to conduct investigations.
31(8) (A) Persons trained as investigative reportersbegin delete whose begin insert and employed by a media source, as defined
32experience is comprised of primary investigations and who meet
33any of the following:end delete
P3 1in Section 1070 of the Evidence Code, whose investigative
2journalism experience is comprised of conducting primary
3investigations and producing investigative
projects.end insert
4(i) The person was as an employee in a distinct investigative
5unit.
6(ii) The person’s primary role was in a news organization
7producing investigative projects.
8(iii) The person conducted primary investigations for a media
9source as defined in Section 1070 of the Evidence Code.
10(B) For purposes of thisbegin delete paragraph, the following terms shall
11have the following meanings:end delete
12(i) “Distinct investigative unit” means an investigative team of
13any size reporting to an editor or supervisor responsible for
14managing the projects. An individual reporter may constitute a
15distinct investigative unit.
16(ii) “Investigative projects” mean the work of investigative
17teams or individuals engaged in original reporting.
18begin delete(iii)end deletebegin delete end deletebegin delete“Primaryend deletebegin insert paragraph “primaryend insert investigation” means original
19begin insert and in-depthend insert research andbegin delete reportingend deletebegin insert analysisend insert involvingbegin delete a number begin insert multipleend insert sources, including, but not
limited to, public records,
20ofend delete
21databases, archives, published and unpublished documents,
22witnesses, informers, whistleblowers, public officials, and experts,
23to producebegin delete stories or reports with new information of interest or begin insert investigative projects.end insert
24importance to the public.end delete
25(b) For purposes of Section 7541, persons possessing an
26associate of arts degree in police science, criminal law, or criminal
27justice from an accredited college shall be credited with 1,000
28hours of experience in investigative activities.
29(c) The following activities shall not be deemed to constitute
30acts of investigation for purposes of
experience toward licensure:
31(1) The serving of legal process or other documents.
32(2) Activities relating to the search for heirs or similar searches
33which involve only a search of public records or other reference
34sources in the public domain.
35(3) The transportation or custodial attendance of persons in the
36physical custody of a law enforcement agency.
37(4) The provision of bailiff or other security services to a court
38of law.
39(5) The collection or attempted collection of debts by telephone
40or written solicitation after the debtor has been located.
P4 1(6) The repossession or attempted repossession of personal
2property after that property has been located and identified.
3(d) Where the activities of employment of an applicant include
4those which qualify as bona fide experience as stated in this section
5as well as those which do not qualify, the director may, by
6delegation to the bureau, determine and apportion that percentage
7of experience for which any applicant is entitled to credit.
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