SB 710, as amended, Galgiani. Real estate licensees: fictitious business names: team names.
The Real Estate Law provides for the licensure and regulation of real estate brokers and real estate salespersons by the Bureau of Real Estate headed by the Real Estate Commissioner. That law requires advertising and solicitation materials using a fictitious business name or that contain a team name to display the responsible broker’s identity, as provided. Existing law defines “responsible broker’s identity” to mean a name and the associated license identification number under which the responsible broker is currently licensed and conducts business in general or is a substantial division of the real estate firm, as specified.
This bill would revise the definition of “responsible broker’s identity” to mean thebegin delete name, the associated license identification number,end deletebegin insert
nameend insert or both the name and associated license identification number.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2⁄3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 10159.7 of the Business and Professions
2Code is amended to read:
(a) For the purposes of this article, the following
4definitions shall apply:
5(1) “Responsible broker’s identity” means thebegin delete name, or the begin insert nameend insert under which the
6associated license identification numberend delete
7responsible broker is currently licensed by the bureau and conducts
8business in general or is a substantial division of the real estate
9firm, or both the name and the associated license identification
10number. Responsible broker’s identity does not include a fictitious
11business name obtained pursuant to paragraph (2)
of subdivision
12(a) of Section 10159.5 or the use of a team name pursuant to
13Section 10159.6.
14(2) “Fictitious business name” means a professional identity or
15brand name under which activity requiring a real estate license is
16conducted and the use of which is subject to approval by the bureau
17pursuant to Section 10159.5.
18(3) “Ownership of a fictitious business name” means the right
19to use, renew, and control the use of a fictitious business name
20obtained in accordance with Section 10159.5.
21(4) “Responsible broker” means the broker responsible for the
22exercise of control and supervision of salespersons under Section
2310159.2, or a licensee subject to discipline under subdivision (h)
24of Section 10177 for failure to supervise
activity requiring a real
25estate license. The supervision of a salesperson required under this
26part or any other law is limited to regulatory compliance and
27consumer protection.
P3 1(5) “Team name” means a professional identity or brand name
2used by a salesperson, and one or more other real estate licensees,
3for the provision of real estate licensed services. Notwithstanding
4any other law, the use of a team name does not require that a
5separate license be issued for that name pursuant to Section
610159.5. A team name does not constitute a fictitious business
7name for purposes of this part or any other law or for purposes of
8filing a fictitious business name statement with an application as
9required by subdivision (a) of Section 10159.5 if all of the
10following apply:
11(A) The
name is used by two or more real estate licensees who
12work together to provide licensed real estate services, or who
13represent themselves to the public as being a part of a team, group,
14or association to provide those services.
15(B) The name includes the surname of at least one of the licensee
16members of the team, group, or association in conjunction with
17the term “associates,” “group,” or “team.”
18(C) The name does not include any term or terms, such as “real
19estate broker,” “real estate brokerage,” “broker,” or “brokerage”
20or any other term that would lead a member of the public to believe
21that the team is offering real estate brokerage services, that imply
22or suggest the existence of a real estate entity independent of a
23responsible broker.
24(b) Nothing in this section changes a real estate broker’s duties
25under this division to supervise a salesperson.
This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
27immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
28the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
29immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
30This act corrects an inadvertent drafting error in Senate Bill 146
31of the 2015-16 Regular Session that requires the listing of a
32company name and responsible broker’s license number on all
33“team” advertising, when the intent of that legislation was to
34require one or the other, but not both. In order to ensure that the
35
law regarding advertising is not overly burdensome, it is necessary
36that this act take effect immediately.
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