BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 975|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 975
Author: Wright (D)
Amended: 8/22/12
Vote: 21
SENATE BUSINESS, PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMM. : 7-1, 5/7/12
AYES: Price, Emmerson, Correa, Hernandez, Negrete McLeod,
Vargas, Wyland
NOES: Corbett
NO VOTE RECORDED: Strickland
SENATE FLOOR : 28-5, 5/29/12
AYES: Alquist, Anderson, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Calderon,
Cannella, Correa, De Le�n, Dutton, Emmerson, Fuller,
Gaines, Harman, Hernandez, Huff, La Malfa, Lieu, Negrete
McLeod, Padilla, Price, Rubio, Steinberg, Strickland,
Walters, Wolk, Wright, Wyland, Yee
NOES: Corbett, DeSaulnier, Hancock, Leno, Pavley
NO VOTE RECORDED: Evans, Kehoe, Liu, Lowenthal, Runner,
Simitian, Vargas
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 60-7, 8/27/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Professions and vocations: regulatory
authority
SOURCE : American Council of Engineering Companies of
California
DIGEST : This bill, beginning July 1, 2013, provides that
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the California Architects Board (CAB) and the Board for
Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists
(PELSG) within Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) shall
have the sole and exclusive authority to license and
regulate its profession and vocation, and provides that no
city, county, city and county, school district, other
special district, local or regional agency, joint powers
agency, or state agency or department shall impose a
licensing requirement upon a person licensed to practice by
CAB or PELSG.
Assembly Amendments (1) limit the scope of the bill to the
CAB and PELSG rather than all regulatory boards within the
DCA; (2) specify that no other state entity may impose
licensing requirements on an individual licensed by CAB or
PELSG; (3) clarify that the bill does prohibit he CAB or
the PELSG from receiving requests from other state agencies
to adopt by regulation licensing requirements applicable to
licensees of those boards and from reviewing the request
and holding public hearings to determine whether it is
necessary to adopt regulations to implement the requested
licensing requirement in order to protect the public and
promote public health and safety; and (4) provide nothing
in the bill shall be construed to limit the authority of a
city, county, city and county, school district, other
special district, local or regional agency, joint powers
agency, or state agency, department, or other state office
from imposing a licensing requirement upon a person who is
not licensed to practice a profession or vocation regulated
by the CAB or PELSG.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Provides for the licensing and regulation of more than
2.4 million professionals in more than 255 professions
and 100 businesses by some 40 boards, bureaus, committees
(boards) and other programs within the DCA under various
licensing acts within the Business and Professions Code
(BPC).
2.Requires the DCA boards to license, register, or certify
practitioners, to assure that the licensed professional
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has met the minimum qualifications for licensure,
investigate and resolve complaints between consumers and
licensed professionals, and discipline licensees for
violation of any laws or their licensing acts, including
those who may practice outside of their scope of practice
or are involved in unlicensed activity.
3.Requires certain licensed professions to meet specified
continuing education requirements in order to renew a
license.
4.Provides that no city or county shall prohibit a person,
authorized by one of these boards in a particular
business from engaging in that business, and shall not
prohibit a healing arts professional licensed by one of
those boards from engaging in any act or performing any
procedure that falls within the professionally recognized
scope of practice of that licensee.
This bill:
1.Makes legislative findings and declarations, including:
A. If other state governmental entities or local
governmental entities were to require persons licensed
by a board within the DCA to satisfy additional
licensing requirements in order to practice their
professions or vocations, before or within the
respective governmental entity, this would impose
enormous regulatory burdens upon the licensed persons.
B. The practice of adopting continuing education
requirements through regulatory action, and the
imposition of mandatory training programs to satisfy
requirements for licensure, certification, or
registration, is becoming more prevalent.
C. The imposition of educational and training
requirements by these governmental entities, in
addition to state licensing requirements, inhibits the
practice of those licensed professions.
D. Further, as additional licensing requirements are
imposed, it is becoming difficult and impractical for
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the state and local governmental entities to
administer conflicting and diverse requirements,
resulting in greater confusion and increased costs.
E. It is therefore imperative that licensed
professions and vocations have a single set of
licensing requirements that apply uniformly throughout
the state and apply equally in all state and local
governmental entities, and that licensed professionals
clearly understand the expectations with which they
must comply in order to legally operate within their
scopes of practice in the state.
1.Specifies that the CAB and the PELSG, shall have the sole
and exclusive authority to license and regulate its
profession or vocation.
2.Prohibits a local or state entity from imposing a
licensing requirement on an individual licensed by the
CAB or the PELSG, except for the CAB and the PELSG.
3.Defines "licensing requirements" to include, but are not
limited to the following, with respect to a specified
profession regulated by the CAB or the PELSG:
A. Additional training or certification requirements
to practice within the scope of practice of a
profession or vocation licensed by the CAB or the
PELSG;
B. Continuing education requirements for renewal or
continuation of licensure; and,
C. Any additional experience or qualification
requirements beyond those provided for in the BPC or
regulations promulgated by the CAB or the PELSG, as
specified.
1.Specifies that nothing in this bill shall be construed to
prohibit the following:
A. Parties from contractually agreeing to additional
experience, qualifications, or training of a licensee
under the CAB or the PELSG in connection with the
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performance of a contract; and,
B. A licensee from voluntarily undertaking
satisfaction of certification programs not required
under the BPC for licensure by the CAB or the PELSG.
C. The CAB or the PELSG from receiving requests from
other state agencies to adopt by regulation licensing
requirements applicable to licensees of those boards.
D. Reviewing a request described above in item #5(C)
and holding public hearings, after notice to the
public and the regulated community, to determine
whether it is necessary to adopt regulations to
implement the requested licensing requirement in order
to protect the public and promote public health and
safety.
6. Provides nothing in this bill shall be construed to
limit the authority of a city, county, city and county,
school district, other special district, local or
regional agency, joint powers agency, or state agency,
department, or other state office from imposing a
licensing requirement upon a person who is not licensed
to practice a profession or vocation regulated by the CAB
or PELSG.
Background
Business Licensure/Continuing Education Examples. The
author raises the following examples of the types of
additional requirements that have been placed or proposed
to be placed upon licensed professionals by state or local
agencies:
The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution District requires
participation in a mandatory Dust Control Training
Course. This course is mandatory training for anyone who
prepares and submits a Dust Control Plan to the District.
Dust Control Plans and best management practices on
construction projects already fall under the scope of
professional licensure and responsibility; such as
contractors and engineers.
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The State Water Resources Control Board General
Construction permit requires already licensed civil
engineers, geologists, landscape architects,
hydrologists, and others to undergo a two to three day
training class and pass a certificate examination in
order to prepare a storm water plan. The total cost for
this program is roughly $700-$800 per person. The
training is essentially reading through the permit
requirements.
The California Commission on Disability Access has
invited the public to provide input or comments to its
Certified Access Specialist and Education Committee on
whether training and continuing education requirements
should be enacted for landscape architects, professional
engineers and contractors to provide these professionals
with sufficient knowledge of the state and federal
disability access laws and regulations.
The California Energy Commission Lead Commissioner for
Energy Efficiency recently conducted a workshop to take
public comment on proposals received from the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the
California Local Unions of Sheet Metal Workers. These
organizations propose that only contractors who are
trained and certified by specific certification programs
should be allowed to perform the "acceptance testing"
that is required of specific equipment by the Building
Energy Efficiency Standards.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/28/12)
American Council of Engineering Companies of California
(source)
Associated General Contractors
California Business Properties Association
California Chapter of the American Fence Association
California Fence Contractors Association
California Geotechnical Engineering Association
California Land Surveyors Association
California Landscape Contractors Association
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California Manufactures and Technology Association
California Metals Coalition
California Pharmacists Association
California Retailers Association
Engineering Contractors Association
Flasher Barricade Association
Marin Builders Association
National Federation of Independent Business
Southern California Contractors Association
State of California Auto Dismantlers Association
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/28/12)
Department of Consumer Affairs
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the American Council
of Engineering Companies of California (ACEC), this bill
seeks to address a growing practice for third party state
and local agencies, departments, local bodies (State Water
Resources Control Board, California Energy Commission,
local air pollution districts, among others) to impose a
training class and certificate program on licensed
professionals in the course of adopting regulations.
ACEC states that these training and certificate
requirements are created and imposed outside of, and in
addition to, the licensure requirements adopted by state
statute and enforced by DCA professional boards. Licensed
professionals must then comply with these mandates in order
to meet the permit requirements, even if the scope of work
is clearly already within their professional licensure as
determined by their DCA Board.
ACEC further argues that this forced "continuing education"
occurs outside of the state law that sets standards for
professional licensure and conduct through DCA. "This
practice incurs costs to business, individuals, and only
benefits the cottage industries of instructors and
certificate associations that collaborate in the imposition
of these programs."
ACEC contends that this bill establishes that the boards,
bureaus, and commissions in the DCA shall have the sole
responsibility in state government to license and regulate
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the practice of professions regulated by the BPC, unless
explicit statutory authority directs a third party agency
to implement such a program.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The DCA opposes this bill,
stating: "The Department believes that the proposed
statutory language is simply unneeded to protect its
licensing boards and bureaus' jurisdiction and could even
result in unforeseen or unintended problems between state
agencies. Further, the Department understands that this
bill was introduced following last year's AB 1210 (Garrick,
2011), which the Governor did not sign. The State Water
Resources Control Board should be given time to follow the
direction it received in the Governor's veto message of
that bill, which may ultimately solve the problem of this
bill's sponsor without legislation."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 60-7, 8/27/12
AYES: Achadjian, Allen, Atkins, Beall, Bill Berryhill,
Bradford, Buchanan, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter,
Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Donnelly, Feuer,
Fletcher, Fuentes, Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto,
Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi,
Roger Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza,
Miller, Mitchell, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby,
Olsen, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Portantino, Silva, Smyth,
Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, John A.
P�rez
NOES: Blumenfield, Bonilla, Brownley, Dickinson, Huffman,
Skinner, Yamada
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Ammiano, Block, Butler, Eng,
Fong, Furutani, Gordon, Hueso, Monning, Pan, Solorio,
Williams
JJA:nk 8/28/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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