BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 799
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Date of Hearing: July 7, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS
Susan Bonilla, Chair
SB 799(Business, Professions & Economic Development) - As
Amended June 25, 2015
SENATE VOTE: 36-0
SUBJECT: Business and professions.
SUMMARY: Makes numerous substantive, technical, and minor
non-controversial changes to various provisions of the
non-healing arts boards regulated by the Department of Consumer
Affairs (DCA).
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the California Board of Accountancy (CBA) within
the DCA to license and regulate accountants and provides the
following: (Business and Professions Code (BPC) §§ 5000-5158)
a) Allows an individual with a canceled license to apply to
have that license placed in a retired status. (BPC §
5070.1(d)(1))
b) Allows for the restoration of a license in a retired
status to an active status. (BPC § 5070.1(g))
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c) Allows CBA to issue a certified public accountant (CPA)
license to any applicant who is a holder of a valid and
unrevoked CPA license issued under the laws of any state.
(BPC § 5087)
2)Establishes the Board for Professional Engineers, Land
Surveyors, and Geologists (BPELSG) within the DCA to license
and regulate professional engineers, land surveyors, and
geologists and provides the following: (BPC §§ 6700-6799,
7800-7887, 8700-8805)
a) Requires civil engineering plans, calculations,
specifications, and reports for schools and specified
hospitals to be prepared by civil engineers with specified
credentials. (BPC § 6735(b)-(c))
3)Establishes the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) within
the DCA to license and regulate contractors and provides the
following: (BPC §§ 7000-7191)
a) Requires a licensee to notify the issuing board at its
principal office of any change in his or her mailing
address within 30 days after the change, unless the board
has specified by regulations a shorter time period. (BPC §
136)
b) b) Provides that all licensees shall notify the
registrar, on a form prescribed by the registrar, in
writing within 90 days of any change to information
recorded under Chapter 9, Division 3 of the BPC. (BPC §
7083)
4)Establishes the State Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind within
the DCA to regulate licenses for the instruction of a blind
person in the use of guide dogs. (BPC §§ 7200-7217)
5)Establishes the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau within the DCA to
administer and enforce the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Law
and Cemetery Act and provides the following: (BPC §§
7600-7610, 9600-9789)
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a) Provides that each licensed funeral establishment that
maintains a website post on the site the list of funeral
goods and services that are required to be included in the
establishment's general price list (GPL), pursuant to
federal rule, and a statement that the GPL is available
upon request. (BPC § 7685(b)(1))
b) Provides that if a funeral establishment elects to post
a link to its GPL, it must identify the link on its home
page with the words "price information" or a similar phrase
that includes the word price. (BPC § 7685(b)(3))
6)Establishes the Structural Pest Control Board (SPCB) within
the DCA to license and regulate the use of structural pest
control and provides the following: (BPC §§ 8500 - 8697.5)
a) Defines "household" as any structure and its contents
which are used for "a man and his convenience." (BPC §
8508)
b) Limits the requirement that a pest control company
provide a notice to owner to the owner to Branch 1 and
Branch 3 registered companies. (BPC § 8513)
c) Requires any registered company that makes an inspection
of any property relating to the absence or presence of wood
destroying pests or organisms on such property and makes a
report of such inspection furnish a copy of the report
either to the owner of the property or to the agent of the
owner, within 10 working days after the date the inspection
is commenced, except an inspection report prepared for use
by an attorney for litigation is not required to be
furnished. (BPC § 8516.5)
d) Makes it unlawful for any person to advertise in any
manner that any pest control work, in whole or in part, has
been done upon any structure, unless the work has been
performed by a registered company. (BPC § 8552)
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e) Requires that each branch office have a branch
supervisor designated by the registered company to
supervise and assist the company's employees who are
located at that branch. Requires the branch supervisor to
be an individual who is licensed by the SPCB as an operator
or a field representative and his or her license be
prominently displayed in the branch office. (BPC § 8611)
7)Establishes the California Travel and Tourism Commission to
administer and enforce the California Tourism Marketing Act
and requires that all meetings be located in California.
(Government Code (GOV) § 13995-13995.118)
8)Requires, for the protection of consumers, individuals,
partnerships, and other business entities operating under a
fictitious business name (FBN) in California to file a
fictitious business name statement with the Secretary of State
and, if requested, by the county clerk. (BPC § 17900-17930)
THIS BILL:
9)Makes numerous technical, non-substantive, and clarifying
changes.
10)Makes the following substantive changes relating to the
California Board of Accountancy (CBA):
a) Clarifies that a canceled license placed into retired
status may not be renewed, restored, or reinstated.
b) Requires that such license holders reapply for licensure
if they wish to renew restore, or reinstate their license.
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11)Adds that a funeral establishment must use the words "good,"
"merchandize," "products," or "services" on its home page to
identify a link to the list of goods and services.
12)Clarifies that contractor licensees are required to notify
the registrar 90 days after any change in information.
13)Allows California Travel and Tourism Commission members to
participate in meetings through teleconference and other
technology.
14)Deletes the requirement for architects to prepare civil
engineering plans, calculations, specifications, and reports
for the construction of structures.
15)Makes the following substantive changes relating to SPCB:
a) Deletes language that limits the effect of the statute
to Branch 1 and Branch 3 registered companies.
b) Adds language that allows a registered company to
represent work that has been completed by an unlicensed
company or individual only in cases where the Act
explicitly provides for an unlicensed company to complete
such work.
c) Adds language in order to clarify that branch office
supervisors must be field representatives or operators who
are licensed in the branch or branches of pest control that
is being conducted at that office.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rules 28.8, this bill will result
in negligible state costs.
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COMMENTS:
Purpose. This bill is a Committee Bill and is author-sponsored.
According to the author, "This bill is the annual Omnibus
Committee bill authored by the Business, Professions and
Economic Development Committee which consolidates a number of
non-controversial provisions related to various regulatory
programs and professions governed by the [BPC] within the DCA.
Consolidating the provisions in one bill is designed to relieve
the various licensing Boards, bureaus and professions from the
necessity and burden of having separate measures for a number of
non-controversial revisions.
Many of the provisions in this bill are minor and technical
changes which update outdated references or titles in existing
law. Other provisions may be substantive consensus changes
which aim to improve the efficacy of the various healing arts
entities in administering and enforcing the provisions of their
respective licensing laws.
As a Committee bill, this measure is jointly authored by each of
the members of the Committee. As such, by its very nature, it
is a consensus bill. If controversy or opposition should arise
regarding any provision in this bill that cannot be resolved,
then that provision will be removed from the bill. This will
eliminate the chance of placing any of the other provisions in
jeopardy.
This bill makes several non-controversial, minor,
non-substantive or technical changes to various provisions
pertaining to the non-health regulatory programs under the
Business and Professions Code."
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Background. This bill makes many technical, code clean-up
changes. It also makes several clarifying changes as described
below.
Board of Accountancy. In 2011, the CBA sponsored Assembly Bill
431 (Chapter 395, Statutes of 2011), which contained language
authorizing the CBA, at its discretion, to create a retired
status for CPA and public accountant licenses. In 2012, the CBA
supported Senate Bill 1576 (Chapter 661, Statutes of 2012) which
included a provision that allowed an individual who had a
canceled license to apply for and obtain a retired status
license provided they met the minimum requirements. The CBA
adopted regulations to implement the retired status, which were
approved by the Office of Administrative Law on October 16,
2013, with the regulations taking effect on July 1, 2014.
The enabling legislation that created the retired status was
relatively permissive in nature and provided the CBA the
authority to establish minimum qualifications to have a license
placed in a retired status and minimum standards for restoring a
license from retired status to active status. The restoration
requirements established by the CBA include: paying a
restoration fee of $75 and completing 80 hours of qualifying
continuing education (with at least 20 hours, of which 12 must
be in technical subject areas, in the year immediately preceding
restoration).
The CBA did not intend to circumvent BPC § 5070.7 related to a
canceled license when it sponsored and supported legislation
authorizing the establishment of the retired status. Therefore,
to remove any possible ambiguity presently associated with this
issue, this bill proposes adding language clarifying that an
individual who has a canceled license placed in retired status
is not authorized to then have the license restored to an active
or inactive status, which would circumvent BPC § 5070.7.
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Additionally, since as far back as 1945, the CBA has maintained
a statute that focuses on the topic of reciprocity. Over the
years the statute has been modified, with the last substantive
change occurring in 2001 (SB 133, Chapter 718, Statues of 2001)
when the Legislature took steps to remove a requirement that an
applicant for licensure be over the age of 18.
Presently, BPC § 5087 provides the CBA with the authority to
issue a CPA license to applicants who hold a valid and unrevoked
license under the laws of any state, if the CBA determines that
the standards under which the applicant received the license are
substantially equivalent to the standards of education,
examination, and experience in California.
This bill recasts and strengthens the phrase "valid and
unrevoked" to "current, active, and unrestricted". This change
will assist the CBA in its mission to protect consumers through
its licensing program.
Cemetery and Funeral Bureau. To ensure fairness and accuracy in
shopping for what is often an expensive service during a time of
great emotional difficulty, the GPL required by FTC Funeral Rule
since 1984 requires a detailed, written price list be given to
anyone who asks for the list in person. Likewise, prices must be
quoted over the phone. In general, California law parallels the
FTC requirement in BPC § 7658.
SB 658 (Negrete-McLeod, Chapter 386, Statutes of 2011) enhanced
California's disclosure requirements by specifically requiring,
beginning January 1, 2013, that all funeral establishments which
maintain a website, post their list of funeral goods and
services. As drafted, this requirement does not require any
specific identification to the Web site link where this
information is posted. However, if a funeral establishment
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elects to post a link to its GPL, it must identify the link on
its home page with the words "price information" or a similar
phrase that includes the word "price". (BPC § 7685 (b) (3))
The Center for Public Interest Law's experience and the
experience of the Funeral Consumers Alliance (affirmed by 2013
report by the Orange County Register) revealed that the ability
of consumers to obtain consistent and reliable funeral
establishment product and pricing information over the Internet
is oddly difficult. In the absence of such information over the
Internet, consumers cannot ask about products or services over
the phone and get comparison quotes because they may not in the
first place know what products or services funeral
establishments offer generally, or which services are offered by
a particular facility.
This, in turn, leads to a lengthy process whereby anguished
consumers trying to price such products or services must stagger
through a difficult process of trying to comparison shop over
the phone without first knowing what options are actually
available for comparison. Therefore, this bill would require
that a funeral establishment must use the words "goods",
"merchandise", "products", or "services" on its home page to
identify a link to the list of goods and services to enable
consumers to find this important information.
County Clerks and Election Officials. Current law is unclear
for out-of-state registrants for a FBN as to whether the
documentation required by the county clerk needs to be from the
California Secretary of State (SOS) or any SOS. Therefore, this
bill clarifies that the applicant for a FBN in the State of
California provide required documentation from the California
Secretary of State, if requested by the county clerk.
Contractors State License Board. BPC § 136 and 7083 conflict as
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to the required timeframe for a licensee to report an address
change. BPC § 136 requires a licensee to notify the issuing
board at its principal office of any change in his or her
mailing address within 30 days after the change, unless the
board has specified by regulations a shorter time period. This
is the usual timeline for all DCA licensees.
However, BPC § 7083 provides that all licensees shall notify the
registrar, on a form prescribed by the registrar, in writing
within 90 days of any change to information recorded under
Chapter 9, Division 3 of the BPC. This bill addresses a
conflict in the timeframe for reporting information to the Board
and underscores that contractor licensees are required to notify
the registrar 90 days after any change in information.
Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development. This
bill makes a technical change to the Government Code that allows
members to participate in the California Travel and Tourism
Commission via teleconference and other technology. This bill
continues to ensure that the teleconference is still subject to
the requirements of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act and all
other requirements that allow for accessibility.
Board of Guide Dogs for the Blind. Referring to persons who are
blind or visually impaired as "blind person" is considered
offensive to many members of the community. The accepted
terminology is to identify the individual as a person who has a
specific medical condition. This is called "person first
terminology".
This bill will change the language to reflect the accepted
terminology to identify a person who is blind. With this
wording, the person is not defined by their condition.
Additionally, members of the public and the Board have noted the
outdated language referring to the use of the masculine gender
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in the code. The bill would remove specific gender from the
code.
Moreover, there are outdated dates located throughout this
chapter. This bill would delete those dates.
Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists.
Currently, BPC § 6735 allows architects to sign off on civil
engineering plans, calculations, specifications, and reports for
the construction of reports. Since the level of education and
expertise are dramatically different between the two groups,
this bill simply reverts the Code section back to its 2014
format where only civil engineers may sign off on civil
engineering plans, calculations, specifications, and reports for
the construction of reports.
Structural Pest Control Board. For BPC § 8508, this bill
replaces the word "man" with the word "persons" and replacing
the word "his" with the word "their". For BPC § 8513, this bill
deletes the language that limits the effect of the statute to
Branch 1 and Branch 3 registered companies in order to correct
statutory inconsistencies. Branch 2 registered companies
routinely contract directly with consumers therefore, Branch 2
registered companies are subject to the provisions of BPC § 8513
and the mechanic's lien laws.
This bill also deletes repetitive language, BPC § 8516.5, as its
provisions have been incorporated into BPC § 8516. For BPC §
8552, this bill adds language that allows a registered company
to represent work that has been completed by an unlicensed
company or individual only in cases where the Act explicitly
provides for an unlicensed company to complete such work.
Currently, BPC § 8552 makes no such allowance even though there
are instances where repair work may be performed by unlicensed
companies or individuals.
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For BPC § 8611, this bill adds language in order to clarify that
branch office supervisors must be field representatives or
operators who are licensed in the branch, or branches of pest
control that is being conducted at that office.
Current Related Legislation. SB 800 (Committee on Business,
Professions and Economic Development), of the current
legislative session, makes numerous substantive, technical, and
minor non-controversial changes to various provisions of the
healing arts boards regulated by the DCA. STATUS: This bill is
currently pending in the Assembly Business, Professions and
Consumer Protection Committee.
Prior Related Legislation. SB 1466 (Committee on Business,
Professions and Economic Development), Chapter 316, Statues of
2014, made several non-controversial, minor, non-substantive or
technical changes to various provisions pertaining to the health
regulatory programs under the BPC.
SB 1575 (Committee on Business, Professions and Economic
Development), Chapter 799, Statutes of 2012, made numerous minor
and technical changes to various provisions pertaining to the
health-related regulatory boards within the DCA.
REGISTERED SUPPORT:
Board of Accountancy
Board of Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists
Center for Public Interest Law
REGISTERED OPPOSITION:
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None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Vincent Chee / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301