BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1773
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 21, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                AB 1773 (Mendoza) - As Introduced:  February 9, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                              Governmental  
          Organization Vote:                            20 - 0 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill reinstates the sunsetted authority of the State Fire  
          Marshal (SFM) to impose a specified monetary civil penalty in  
          lieu of suspending a private business operating license or  
          certification. Specifically, this bill: 

          1)Authorizes the State Fire Marshall or his or her designee to  
            stay the suspension of a license or certificate of  
            registration in specified instances on condition that its  
            holder pay a specified monetary penalty and incur no other  
            cause for disciplinary action.

          2)Deposits those penalties in the State Fire Marshal Licensing  
            and Certification Fund.

          3)Requires the State Fire Marshall to make specified data  
            relating to this bill available to the public.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Moderate savings to the extent this bill decreases the number  
            of administrative hearings resulting from license suspensions.  
            Each administrative hearing costs the SFM approximately  
            $3,000. If 25 hearings per year are avoided, it would result  
            in savings of approximately $75,000 (State Fire Marshall  
            Licensing and Certification Fund).

          2)Penalty revenue increases of approximately $30,000 per year  
            resulting from reinstating the penalty enforcement mechanism  
            (State Fire Marshall Licensing and Certification Fund).









                                                                  AB 1773
                                                                  Page  2

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . According to the author, prior to January 1, 2008,  
            the OSFM was authorized to levy a monetary penalty in lieu of  
            administrative license suspensions (AB 2401, Harman, Chapter  
            424, Statutes of 2004).  During the period prior to this  
            policy's sunset date of January 1, 2008, there were 51 cases  
            of violation.  The sponsor, CalFIRE, states that all cases  
            except one were settled under the existing provision, without  
            significant fiscal impact to the state.  


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081