BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 623|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 623
Author: Emmerson (R), et al
Amended: 9/4/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEVELOP. COMM : 9-0, 7/6/09
AYES: Negrete McLeod, Wyland, Aanestad, Corbett, Correa,
Florez, Romero, Walters, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 13-0, 8/27/09
AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Corbett, Denham, Hancock, Leno, Oropeza,
Price, Runner, Walters, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/14/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Architects: continuing education
SOURCE : American Institute of Architects, California
Council
DIGEST : This bill authorizes the California Architects
Board to establish comprehensive continuing education
requirements if it determines, based upon empirical
evidence, that continuing education is in the interest of
public health safety and welfare and requires architects to
complete that continuing education as a condition of
license renewal.
Senate Floor Amendments of 9/4/09 clarify dates and
CONTINUED
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timeframes relating to license renewal for purposes of
documenting completion of continuing education
requirements, and make correcting changes.
ANALYSIS : Existing law:
1. Provides for the licensing and regulation of more
than 22,000 architects by the California Board of
Architecture (Board) within the Department of Consumer
Affairs (DCA).
2. Requires a licensed architect, as a condition of
license renewal, to complete coursework on disability
access requirements, as specified, and to certify
completion to the Board and provide documentation from
the course provider that includes the course title,
subjects covered, name of provider and trainer or
educator, date of completion, number of hours
completed, and a statement about the trainer or
educator's knowledge and experience background.
3. Phases in the number of hours of coursework required
on an incremental basis.
4. Requires the coursework regarding disability access
to be presented by trainers and educators with
knowledge and expertise and to include information and
practical guidance.
This bill:
1. Provides that if the Board determines, based upon
empirical evidence, that the public health, safety and
welfare would be served by requiring all licensed
architects to complete continuing education, then the
Board may require a licensee to certify completion of
continuing education requirements as a condition of
license renewal.
2. Requires the licensee to certify on a form prescribed
by the Board that he or she has completed continuing
education in or relevant to, the practice of
architecture in subjects relating to health, safety,
and welfare during the preceding two years, as
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determined by the Board.
3. States that coursework in disability access
requirements shall be applied to any continuing
education hours prescribed by the Board.
4. Requires that any continuing education requirement
shall be adopted by the Board in regulations,
including:
A. The required courses
B. The number of hours.
5. Authorizes the Board to audit a licensee's records to
verify completion of continuing education requirements
and requires a licensee to maintain the continuing
education records for a minimum of two years from the
date of license renewal.
6. Revises and recasts the provisions of existing law
items 2), 3) and 4) above to instead require the
licensee to provide documentation of the disabled
access continuing education until the conclusion of
the license renewal cycle beginning January 1, 2011.
7. Requires, commencing with the license renewal cycle
beginning January 1, 2013, a licensee, upon a board
audit, provide documentation from the course provider
to the board.
8. Authorizes the Board to audit the records of a
licensee to verify completion of any of the continuing
education requirements.
9. Specifies, if the board adopts a continuing education
requirement for license renewal, an applicant for
license renewal shall separately certify on a form
prescribed by the board that the applicant has
completed the requisite hours of continuing education
required as a condition of license renewal, and that
the requisite hours of continuing education included
at least five hours of disability access continuing
education.
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10. Requires the Board, until January 1, 2015, to audit
at least three percent of the license renewals
received each year to verify the completion of the
continuing education requirements.
11. Specifies, a licensee who fails to complete the
required coursework or provides false or misleading
statements is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed
$5,000, or license suspension or revocation, or by
both civil penalty and license suspension or
revocation.
12. Requires, on or before January 1, 2019, the board
submit a letter to the Legislature on the disability
access continuing education, including the level of
license compliance, any actions taken by the board for
noncompliance, the finding of board audits, and any
recommendations for improving the process.
Background
Continuing Education on Construction-Related Accessibility
Standards . SB 1608 (Corbett, Chapter 549, Statutes of
2008) was introduced to address a number of reforms
intended to increase compliance with longstanding state and
federal laws requiring access to persons with disabilities
in places of public accommodation. The bill established
the Construction-Related Accessibility Standards Compliance
Act, and made a number of changes including: establish
processes for businesses sued for violation of
accessibility standards; specify requirements for site
certifications by a certified access specialists; establish
a California Commission on Disability Access; impose
continuing education requirements on local building
officials relating to disability access requirements; and
require, as a condition of license renewal, that an
architect must complete coursework regarding disability
access requirements, and certify to the Board, as part of
the license renewal process, completion of the coursework
prior to renewing the license.
According to the Board, 16 DCA licensing boards use the
certify/audit method to verify continuing education, while
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7 boards require some information on the course to be
submitted. AIACC states that the National Council of
Architectural Registration Boards and the American
Institute of Architects report that 26 state licensing
boards follow the certify/audit model, and 12 require some
information to be sent to the licensing board. Of those
12, most require minimal information on the course (course
title, date taken, and hours) as a part of renewal
application, with more specific information to be retained
in case of an audit.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11
2011-12 Fund
Licensee audit requirement up to $115 up to
$170 up to $170 Special*
* State Architects Board Fund
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/2/09)
American Institute of Architects, California Council
(source)
California Board of Architecture
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
"Last year, with the enactment of SB 1608, California
architects were added to the list of licensed professions
having to take continuing education. Unlike the other
professions, however, SB 1608 required architects to take
continuing education only on a single topic (disability
access). AB 623 does not change the newly created
disability access requirement but instead builds on this
requirement to include a more comprehensive continuing
education approach. For example, society and the laws of
the state will require new knowledge by architects
regarding the energy performance of buildings, and their
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impact on the environment and the users of the building.
Additionally, architects must continuously learn on other
changing topics important to the public health, safety, and
welfare, such as building codes, universal accessibility,
seismic design, fire sprinklers, masonry construction,
alternative energy sources, shoreline protection, historic
preservation, pedestrian design, and many other important
and changing topics."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill,
Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Brownley,
Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,
Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore,
Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuller, Furutani, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman,
Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande,
Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Silva, Skinner,
Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres,
Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ammiano, Fuentes, Gaines, Saldana, Smyth
JA:nl 9/8/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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