BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1479| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONSENT Bill No: SB 1479 Author: Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development Introduced:3/10/16 Vote: 21 SENATE BUS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 9-0, 4/18/16 AYES: Hill, Bates, Berryhill, Block, Galgiani, Hernandez, Jackson, Mendoza, Wieckowski SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8 SUBJECT: Business and professions SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill makes several non-controversial, minor, non-substantive or technical changes to various provisions within the Business and Professions Code relating to the non-health regulatory boards or bureaus of the Department of Consumer Affairs. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Provides for the licensing and regulation of various professions and businesses by some 26 boards, 10 bureaus, two committees, one program, and one commission within the Department of Consumer Affairs under various licensing acts within the Business and Professions Code (BPC). SB 1479 Page 2 2)Contains the following provisions relating to the California Board of Accountancy (CBA): a) Provides that an applicant for certified public accountant licensure is required to complete 10 semester units or 15 quarter units of ethics study with specific terms in the course title. (BPC § 5094.3 (d)) 3)Contains the following provisions relating to the California Architects Board (CAB): a) Provides that CAB may grant eligibility, based on an eligibility point determined by the Additional Path to Architectural Licensing Program, for a candidate to take the examination for a license to practice architecture if he or she is enrolled in an Additional Path to Architectural Licensing Program that integrates the experience and examination components offered by a National Architectural Accrediting Board-accredited degree program. (BPC § 5550.2) 4)Contains the following provisions relating to the Contractors State License Board (CSLB): a) Requires that an application for an original license, for an additional classification, or for a change of qualifier become void when: (1) The applicant or examinee for the applicant has failed to appear for the scheduled qualifying examination and fails to request and pay the fee for rescheduling within 90 days of notification of failure to appear, or, after being rescheduled, has failed to appear for a second examination. SB 1479 Page 3 (2) The applicant or the examinee for the applicant has failed to achieve a passing grade in the scheduled qualifying examination, and fails to request and pay the fee for rescheduling within 90 days of notification of failure to pass the examination. (BPC § 7074(a)) 5)Contains the following provisions relating to the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists (BPELSG): a) Requires that an examination for registration be held at the times and places within the state as the Board determine; provides that the scope of examinations and the methods of procedure be prescribed by rule of the Board. (BPC § 7844) 6)Contains the following provisions relating to the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz): a) Establishes the California Tourism Marketing Act. (Government Code (GC) § 13995 et seq.) b) Makes various findings and declarations regarding the importance of California's tourism industry, need for marketing of the industry and importance in funding the marketing of the industry, including: (1) An industry-approved assessment provides a private-sector financing mechanism that, in partnership with state funding, will provide the amount of marketing necessary to increase tourism marketing expenditures by California. SB 1479 Page 4 (2) The goal of the assessments is to assess the least amount per business, in the least intrusive manner, spread across the greatest practical number of tourism industry segments. (GC § 13995.1) This bill: 1) Makes the following changes relating to CBA: a) Provides flexibility to the courses that fall under the ethics education requirement without expanding the disciplines in which the education is earned. 2) Makes the following changes relating to CAB: a) Clarifies the language of BPC Section 5550.2 to allow students enrolled in any program accepted by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards to receive early eligibility to take the Architectural Registration Examination. 3) Makes the following changes relating to CSLB: a) Eliminates the two conditions in existing law that void an application because of exam scheduling. 4) Makes the following changes relating to BPELSG: a) Authorizes the Board to make arrangements with a public or private organization to conduct the examination and to contract with a public or private organization for materials or services related to the examination. SB 1479 Page 5 5) Makes the following changes relating to GO-Biz: a) Deletes the obsolete reference to "secretary" of the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency and instead inserts the word "Director". Background This bill is one of two "committee bills" authored by the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee (Committee) and is intended to consolidate a number of non-controversial provisions related to various regulatory programs and professions governed by the BPC. Consolidating the provisions in one bill is designed to relieve the various licensing boards, bureaus, professions and other regulatory agencies from the necessity and burden of having separate measures for a number of non-controversial revisions. Many of the provisions of this bill are minor, technical, and updating changes, while other provisions are substantive changes intended to improve the ability of various licensing programs and other entities to efficiently and effectively administer their respective laws. However, as a Committee bill, if controversy or opposition should arise regarding any provision 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. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified5/10/16) California Board of Accountancy SB 1479 Page 6 OPPOSITION: (Verified5/10/16) None received ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The California Board of Accountancy writes, "The CBA would like to thank you for including our proposal to amend the CBA's ethics study education requirements for Certified Public Accountant licensure to provide a level of flexibility by changing the current course title requirement to a subject requirement in SB 1479." Prepared by:Mark Mendoza / B., P. & E.D. / (916) 651-4104 5/11/16 15:58:21 **** END ****