BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
623 (Emmerson)
Hearing Date: 8/17/2009 Amended: 7/15/2009
Consultant: Bob Franzoia Policy Vote: B,P&ED 9-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 623 would authorize the California Architects
Board (CAB) to audit the records of a license, and, until
January 1, 2015, would require the CAB to audit at least three
percent of the license renewals received each year, to verify
completion of coursework regarding disability access
requirements and would require a licensee to provide the
specified documentation only upon that audit. Some licensees
may be exempted on a one time basis. In addition, this bill
would authorize the CAB to require a licensee to certify to the
CAB that he or she has completed continuing education (CE) in
the practice of architecture in subjects relating to health,
safety, and welfare. If the CAB imposes that requirement, this
bill would require the CAB to adopt regulations establishing
requirements relating to continuing education.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Licensee audit requirement Up to $115 Up to $170Up to
$170 Special*
* State Architects Board Fund
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Established in 1901, the CAB regulates approximately 22,000
licensed architects.
The fiscal impact estimates the CAB will require approximately
two full time staff to conduct an estimated 220 to 440 audits
annually and to develop supporting data.
The audit workload will be for the following activities:
- Generate a database report for a specific timeframe which
randomly selects renewed licenses to be audited. A minimum of
three percent of renewals will be audited annually.
- Retrieve renewal applications for selected licenses from CAB
files.
- Review renewal applications to verify appropriate information
and completeness for the current renewal cycle.
- Prepare and mail letter to licensees indicating that they have
been selected for an audit and requesting submittal of all
supporting CE documentation to show the completion of the
required courses within the prior two years.
- Enter data into computer records for each license.
- Review and analyze documentation received to determine if
coursework compliant (i.e., date course completed, type of
course, subjects covered, hours completed, and trainer's
knowledge and experience background).
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AB 623 (Emmerson)
- Act as the liaison between the CBA and CE providers to verify
any suspect documentation with the CE course providers, trainers
and/or educators. Prepare and mail letters to
providers/trainers as needed.
- Prepare and mail second request letters to licensees for any
lacking documentation and track and continue follow-up until
complete information is received.
- Respond to the licensees' inquiries regarding the CE audit
process, status, and results.
- Forward any fraudulent CE documentation to the CAB's
Enforcement Coordinator for further action. Additional workload
for Enforcement Unit is absorbable.
- Prepare and mail letter to licensee confirming completion of
CE audit.
- Record actions on computer license record.
- File all documents in license file.
- Record statistics and generate reports as needed.
This bill also requires the CE program to be based on empirical
evidence that demonstrates that the public health, safety, and
welfare would be served by requiring all architects to complete
CE as a condition of license renewal. In order to base the
program on empirical evidence, staff would have to conduct
research to determine if the evidence is currently available or
the best method to collect it. Depending on the results of the
research, additional workload may be needed (i.e., research
methodologies to assess validation, define scope of study,
contract with consultant, conduct focus groups, gather
statistical data, analyze data, prepare findings, etc.). Based
on the outcome of the empirical data the CE program requirements
would be developed. Regulations would have to be approved and
computer programming for the first year exemption would have to
be completed before a CE program could be fully implemented.
These functions would need to be completed by a CAB staff member
at an analyst level and a contracted outside consultant (if
necessary for the computer programming).
AB 1145 (Price), also on the committee's agenda, would increase
license renewal fees to up to $400 annually. At a fee of $350
or $50 less than the maximum proposed by that bill, the CAB
would receive increased revenue of $1,427,000 in fiscal years
ending in odd numbered years and by $2,039,000 in fiscal years
ending in even numbered years. Total revenue would be
$3,245,000 in 2010-11, $4,637,000 in 2011-12 and $3,245,000 in
2012-13. Absent this increase in the fee maximum, it is
estimated the CABF will be insolvent in 2010-11 with a deficit
of $879,000 increasing to $2,050,000 and $4,100,000 in 2011-12
and 2012-13 respectively.