BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1479
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
1479 (Committee on Business, Professions and Economic
Development)
As Introduced August 18, 2016
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 38-0
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+-----------------------+---------------------|
|Business & |16-0 |Salas, Brough, Baker, | |
|Professions | |Bloom, Campos, Chávez, | |
| | |Dahle, Dodd, Eggman, | |
| | |Gatto, Gomez, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Mullin, Ting, | |
| | |Wood | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+-----------------------+---------------------|
|Appropriations |18-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonta, | |
| | |Calderon, Chang, Daly, | |
| | |Eggman, Gallagher, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Roger Hernández, | |
| | |Holden, Jones, | |
SB 1479
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| | |Obernolte, Quirk, | |
| | |Santiago, Wagner, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Makes several changes that are non-controversial,
minor, non-substantive, or technical to various provisions
within the Business and Professions Code (BPC) relating to the
non-healing arts regulatory entities under the Department of
Consumer Affairs (DCA) and one non-substantive change to the
California Tourism Marketing Act. Specifically, this bill:
1)Amends the requirement that an applicant for a license as a
certified public accountant take ethics study courses to
specify the allowable terms in the course subject.
2)Authorizes the California Architects Board (CAB) to grant a
candidate early eligibility to sit for the licensing exam if
the candidate is enrolled in a program accepted by the
National Council of Architectural Registration Boards.
3)Eliminates the two conditions in existing law that void an
application submitted to the Contractors State License Board
(CSLB) relating to failure to pass, or failure to appear for,
the qualifying examination and rescheduling.
4)Specifies that in all home improvement contracts, as defined,
a licensee shall be licensed in this state in an active status
for not less than two years prior to submitting an Application
for Approval of Blanket Performance and Payment Bond.
5)Authorizes the Board for Professional Engineers, Land
Surveyors, and Geologists (BPELSG) to make arrangements with a
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public or private organization to conduct the geology
examination and to contract with a public or private
organization for materials or services related to the
examination.
6)Authorizes the BPELSG to authorize a contracted organization
to receive related fees directly from applicants.
7)Deletes an obsolete reference to "secretary" in the intent
language of the California Tourism Marketing Act and replaces
it with "director".
8)Requires cemetery authorities under the Cemetery and Funeral
Bureau to adhere to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
(GAAP) in their annual financial reporting on Endowment Care
and Special Care Trust Funds.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, negligible state fiscal impact.
COMMENTS:
Purpose. This bill is sponsored by the author. According to
the author, "This bill is one of two 'committee bills' authored
by the [Senate Committee on Business, Professions and Economic
Development] 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
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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."
Background. This bill is the Senate Committee's annual
non-health omnibus bill and makes changes to five boards under
the DCA and to the California Tourism Marketing Act.
Board of Accountancy. Existing law requires an applicant for a
license as a certified public accountant take a specified number
of ethics study courses and specifies the terms that must appear
in the course title, for example "Business law," "Professional
responsibilities," and "Fraud". However, course titles may not
always be reflective of the subject of the course. Therefore,
this bill would change the requirement to allow an applicant to
be able to take a course with any title relating to Business law
rather than limiting the applicant to a class titled "Business
Law". The Board of Accountancy suggested the amendment in this
bill "to provide a level of flexibility by changing the current
course title requirement to a subject requirement."
California Architects Board. Existing law authorizes the CAB to
allow student architects to sit for the exam early under certain
circumstances. However, the current language references the
obsolete "Additional Path to Architectural Licensing". The
nomenclature for the programs has changed and the amendment is
intended to reflect the new terminology.
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Contractors' State License Board. Existing law specifies
several conditions that void an application. This bill deletes
the conditions relating to exam scheduling because
computer-based testing makes it unnecessary. This change will
benefit applicants whose applications would otherwise become
void without negatively impacting CSLB operations.
Existing CSLB regulations also require that design contractors
who perform home improvement contracts to have been licensed for
five years before posting a bond. The bond allows for upfront
payments on custom orders. This bill would specify in statute
that the contractors must have an active license for at least
two years.
According to the proponents of the change, the five year
requirement makes it difficult for design consultants to work in
California. According to the CSLB, the current probationary
period is two years, and the bonding requirement under this bill
would be consistent with that requirement.
Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and
Geologists. Existing law authorizes the BPELSG to establish the
timing, location, methods, and procedures of the geologist
licensing exam. However, for professional engineers and land
surveyors, the BPELSG has authorization to make arrangements
with other organizations to conduct the examination and to
contract for materials or services related to the examination.
This bill makes that section of the practice acts between the
three professions consistent.
Cemetery and Funeral Bureau. Under existing law, there is no
requirement that cemetery authorities adhere to GAAP in their
annual financial reporting on Endowment Care and Special Care
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Trust Funds. GAAP are a combination of authoritative accounting
standards established by the Financial Accounting Standards
Board and the Government Accounting Standards Board, under the
oversight of the Federal Security and Exchange Commission to,
among other things, ensure a minimum level of consistency and
full disclosure in the financial statements of companies and
government entities.
By not adhering to GAAP in the preparation of their financial
statements, cemetery authorities may not be fully disclosing the
financial condition of Endowment Care and Special Care Trust
Funds. To remedy that issue, the DCA proposed changing the law
to explicitly require that GAAP are used.
Analysis Prepared by:
Vincent Chee / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301 FN:
0004368