BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2873
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2873 (Thurmond) - As Amended April 21, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill requires local governments to increase the number of
building officials who are certified access specialists (CASps)
in order to improve compliance with state and federal
construction-related disability standards. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Requires that, as of January 1, 2018, all building inspectors
employed or retained by a local agency who conduct permitting
and plan check services to review for compliance with state
construction-related accessibility standards, must be CASps.
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2)Increases, from $1 to $4, the fee on business licenses that is
used to fund the CASp Program, and eliminates the January 1,
2018 sunset on the current fee.
3)Provides that instead of retaining 70% of the fee revenue
collected per (2) and sending 30% to the Division of the State
Architect (DSA), the local government would keep 90% of the
revenue and remit 10% to DSA.
4)Requires each local government to place its fee revenue, less
up to 5% for administrative costs, into a CASp Certification
and Training Fund. Highest priority for use of these funds is
to be given for training and retention of certified access
specialists. The fund can also be used to facilitate
compliance with construction-related accessibility
requirements, though the bill does not specify what activities
this would encompass.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Revenue from the current fee is about $2.1 million annually, of
which $620,000 goes to DSA and $1.5 million goes to local
jurisdictions. Revenues from the increased fee would total about
$8.25 million annually, of which $825,000 would go to DSA and
$7.4 million would go to locals.
DSA will receive increased revenue of $205,000 in 2017 and 2018,
and continue to receive ongoing revenue of $825,000 annually
beyond the current sunset date on the fee authority. These
additional revenues should cover any increase in DSA costs to,
for example, offer more CASp examination opportunities. With an
expected increase in local building officials seeking to become
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CASps, DSA will receive examination and licensing revenues to
cover its additional administrative costs.
According to DGS, about 550 local jurisdictions employ building
inspectors. Current law requires a local agency to employ a
"sufficient number of building inspectors who are certified
access specialists" and require that an agency employs or
retains two or more CASps, at least one-half of the CASps must
be building inspectors. It is unknown how many additional
building inspectors would need to become CASps under this bill.
According to DGS, the average per-candidate cost to become a
CASp is $4,571, which takes into account that most candidates
must take the exam multiple times. The examination fee (for the
two-part exam) is either $1,200 or $1,600 depending on if the
candidate has existing professional licensure. In addition, the
certification must be renewed every three years at a cost of
$500, plus expense for 15 mandatory continuing education units
costing $225 to $750.
Given the above average certification costs, the annual revenue
to local of $7.4 million would cover about 1,600 certifications.
Of course, since the revenue is to be collected and retained by
each jurisdiction, it is unknown how well revenues and costs
will match at the local level. It is also unclear for what
specific purposes this level of revenue would be needed on an
ongoing basis.
COMMENTS:
1)Background/Purpose. Since 1992, public accommodations in
California have been required to comply with not only the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), but also with the
state's Unruh Civil Rights Act, which incorporates the ADA
into its provisions and makes a violation of the ADA
punishable as a violation of Unruh. To increase compliance
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with the ADA, SB 262 (Kuehl), Chapter 872, Statutes of 2003
established the CASp program to meet the public's need for
experienced, trained, and tested individuals who can inspect
buildings and sites for compliance with applicable state and
federal construction-related accessibility standards. While a
number of subsequent bills have expanded the use and effect of
CASp inspections, no significant new financial resources have
been provided to small businesses or to the CASp program, in
order to bring businesses into compliance with the law.
This bill, sponsored by Disability Access California, is
intended to increase the number of local building officials
who are trained and certified as access specialists, and
provides additional resources to support this effort.
2)Concern. The League of California Cities writes, "the
CASp-certification process remains expensive and the exam
extremely difficult, with a very low passage rate even among
the experienced inspectors. Statewide, there are only about
575 CASps, many of whom are consultants specializing in this
area. Building inspectors report that the current exam often
covers areas that have little to do with their day-to-day work
of enforcing the state building code, including accessibility
requirements. Without adjustments by the State Architect to
the exam itself, it is unrealistic to expect cities to be
compliant with the bill's requirements by January 2018. The
bill would also be particularly problematic for smaller cities
that employ or retain a handful of building inspectors." The
league also notes that, "While the increase in the cost of
business fees and the percentage retained by a local agency
would assist with the cost of the certification process, not
all jurisdictions collect business license fees."
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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