BILL ANALYSIS �
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|-Hearing Date:April 23, 2012 |Bill No:SB |
| |1576 |
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS
AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Senator Curren D. Price, Jr., Chair
Bill No: SB 1576Author: Business,
Professions and
Economic Development Committee
As Amended:April 12, 2012 Fiscal:Yes
SUBJECT: Professions and vocations.
SUMMARY: Makes several non-controversial, minor, non-substantive or
technical changes to various provisions within the Business and
Professions Code (BPC) relating to the regulatory boards of the
Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) and to the weights and measures
provisions under the jurisdiction of the Department of Food and
Agriculture.
Existing law:
1)Provides for the licensing and regulation of various professions and
businesses by some 23 boards, 4 committees, 7 bureaus, and 1
commission within the DCA under various licensing acts within the
BPC.
2)Contains the following provisions relating to the California Board of
Accountancy (CBA):
a) Requires the CBA to print the adopted rules of professional
conduct on its applications. (BPC � 5019)
b) Establishes requirements for accountancy partnerships, as
specified. (BPC � 5072)
c) Establishes peer review requirements of licensees, and
requires the CBA to adopt emergency regulations implementing peer
review. (BPC � 5076)
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d) Establishes the criteria for an applicant to obtain a CPA
license, including specified ethic course requirements and
authorizes an Advisory Committee on Accounting Ethics Curriculum
to determine whether a course or portion of a course satisfies
the ethics requirement. (BPC � 5093)
e) Refers to a specified accounting report prepared by the
California Research Bureau. (BPC � 5094.6)
f) Authorizes the CBA to conditionally renew or reinstate a
license for one year to allow time for a license holder with a
financial hardship to pay costs under a disciplinary order. (BPC
� 5107)
g) Authorizes a licensee who is no longer actively engaged in
practice, upon application to the CBA and meeting specified
requirements, to have his or her license placed on retired
status. (BPC � 5070.1)
3)Contains the following provisions relating to the Contractors State
License Board (CSLB):
a) Provides that any person who files a false complaint with the
Board is guilty of an infraction punishable by a fine of up to
$1,000. (BPC � 7011.8)
b) Provides for the cancellation of a contractor license upon the
death or disassociation of a partner in a partnership, as
specified. (BPC � 7076)
4)Contains the following provisions relating to Board for Professional
Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists (BPELSG):
a) Provides an exemption from the taking of the first part of the
land surveyor examination to applicants who have passed the
engineer-in-training examination, or who hold a professional
engineer registration. (BPC � 8741)
b) Makes references to a land surveyor manual published by the
federal Bureau of Land Management. (BPC �� 8741, 8762)
c) Establishes criteria for a land surveyor to file a record of
survey. (BPC � 8773)
5)Contains the following provisions relating to Weights and Measures:
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a) Makes numerous outdated references to the "director" of the
Department of Food and Agriculture (DFA). Makes outdated
references to the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), American
Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM), Society of Automotive
Engineers (SAE). (BPC � 12012 ff.)
b) Provides for the regulation of point of sale systems. (BPC �
12736)
c) Establishes administrative civil penalties which duplicate
provisions found in BPC � 12015.3. (BPC � 13302)
This bill:
1)Makes the following changes relating to the California Board of
Accountancy (CBA):
a) Recasts the provision requiring the CBA to print rules of
professional conduct on applications, to instead require an
applicant to acknowledge he or she has read and understands the
rules of professional conduct. (BPC � 5019)
b) Makes technical and clarifying amendments. (BPC � 5072)
c) Deletes an obsolete reference to the CBA adopting emergency
regulations. (BPC � 5076)
d) Deletes an obsolete reference to the Advisory Committee on
Accounting Ethics Curriculum determining that a course satisfies
the ethics study requirement. (BPC � 5093)
e) Deletes an obsolete reference to an accounting report by the
California Research Bureau and makes conforming changes. (BPC �
5094.6)
f) Authorizes the CBA to renew or reinstate for up to three years
the permit or certificate of a disciplined licensee who has been
ordered to pay cost recovery to the CAB, and who demonstrates
financial hardship provided the licensee enters into a formal
agreement with the CAB to repay the costs within that three year
period. (BPC � 5107)
g) Revises the retired status provisions enacted by SB (AB 431,
Ma, Chapter 395, Statutes of 2011) to allow holders of canceled
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and delinquent licenses to apply for retired status, and make
other revisions. (BPC � 5070.1)
2)Makes the following changes relating to the Contractors State License
Board (CSLB):
a) Modifies the penalty for filing a false complaint with the
CSLB to authorize the registrar to take administrative action
against a person subject to licensure who files a false complaint
with the CSLB. (BPC � 7011.8)
b) Makes a technical conforming change, by referring to the
"disassociation" rather than to the "death" of a limited partner
in a partnership. ( BPC � 7076)
3)Makes the following changes relating to the Board for Professional
Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists (BPELSG):
a) Revises the exemption from the taking of the first part of the
land surveyor examination to only apply to individuals who have
taken the engineer-in-training examination or to civil engineers
registered prior to January 1, 1982. (BPC �� 8741)
b) Correct outdated references to correctly refer to the "Manual
of Surveying Instructions (2009) published by the federal Bureau
of Land Management." (BPC �� 8741, 8762)
c) Clarifies the requirement for a land surveyor to file a record
of survey by expanding the definition of "establish" to include
"location, relocation, reestablishment or retracement." (BPC �
8773)
4)Makes the following changes relating to Weights and Measures:
a) Makes updating changes to correctly refer to the "secretary"
for the DFA, and to the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST), and to ASTM International, and to SAE
International. (BPC � 12012 ff.)
b) Relocates and renumbers BPC � 12736 pertaining to point of
sale systems to BPC � 13303.
c) Repeals a duplicative provision of law. (BPC � 13302)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill has been keyed "fiscal" by
Legislative Counsel.
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COMMENTS:
1.Purpose. This bill is one of two "committee bills" authored by the
Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee (Committee)
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 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.
2.Background. The following is background and reasons for the more
significant and substantive provisions in this measure:
a) California Board of Accountancy. According to the CBA, since
1957, the law has required the CBA to print the adopted rules of
professional conduct on its applications. However the provision
has never been implemented. The new language would instead
require the applicant to confirm on the application that he or
she has read and understands the rules of professional conduct.
The law allows persons to form accountancy partnerships registered
by the CBA. However, the provision that a partner be "personally
engaged" in the partnership has caused confusion as to whether
two corporations may form a partnership. The amendments delete
the word "personally" to clarify that a partner must be engaged
in the partnership.
The law makes several outdated references to the CBA adopting
emergency regulations implementing peer review; an Advisory
Committee on Accounting Ethics Curriculum; and a specified report
by the CRB which is no longer necessary due to the enactment of
SB 773 (Negrete McLeod, Chapter 344, Statutes of 2011). The bill
repeals those obsolete provisions.
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The law allows the CBA to conditionally renew or reinstate a
license for one year to allow time for a license holder with a
financial hardship to pay costs under a disciplinary order. The
CBA, by historical practice, has allowed such cases to have up to
three years to pay these costs. The CBA has found that allowing
this extra time has proven to be a key factor in settling some
cases, thereby saving the costs of prosecuting the case.
In 1993, SB 839 (Ayala, Chapter 262, Statutes of 1993) created a
"retired seal" program that allowed California licensed CPAs to
call themselves "retired CPAs." There were no requirements for
this seal, and following implementation, it was discovered that
it could be used to avoid paying fees and avoiding discipline.
Later, SB 2239 (BPC, Chapter 878, Statutes of 1989) repealed the
program. All the licensees who had taken advantage of the
program who did not renew their license eventually had their
license canceled. In 2011, AB 431 (Ma, Chapter 395, Statutes of
2011) authorized the CBA to establish a retired status for its
licensees. However it did not provide for the CBA to issue a
retired license to a licensee who previously had a retired seal.
This bill revises the retired status provisions and authorizes a
licensee who is no longer actively engaged in practice, or who
previously held a retired seal, upon application to the CBA and
meeting specified requirements, to obtain a retired status
license.
b) Contractors State License Board. According to the CSLB, the
contractor law provides that a person who files a false complaint
with the CSLB is guilty of an infraction, and further provides
that CSLB may notify the appropriate district or city attorney
that a false report has been filed. Since enacted in 1992, a
violation of these provisions has never been pursued. The bill
would recast these provisions to instead provide that the
registrar may issue a citation to a person who files a false
complaint with the CSLB. CSLB further indicates that the law
incorrectly refers to the "death" of a partner rather than to the
"disassociation" of the partner.
c) Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and
Geologists. According to the California Land Surveyors
Association (CLSA), when the existing engineer exemption language
in BPC � 8741 (a) was adopted in 1979, the educational curriculum
requirements for engineers generally included courses that taught
a fundamental knowledge of surveying, mathematics, and basic
science. At the time, it was justified to exclude an engineer
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with a postsecondary degree from the first division of the land
surveyor examination because it was assumed that the
postsecondary curriculum adequately taught and tested this
knowledge. In recent years these provisions have been found to
be so vague that any professional engineer licensed by the BPELSG
would arguably be exempt from the first division of the land
surveyor examination. This bill would instead, provide an
exemption from the taking the first part of the land surveyor
examination to applicants who have passed the
engineer-in-training examination, or who hold a professional
engineer registration.
CLSA states that the law refers to an outdated document published
by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that could potentially
mislead applicants preparing for the land surveyor exam and
practicing land surveyors when identifying a "lost corner" in
preparation of a corner record. The amendments correct the
reference to the Manual of Surveying Instructions (2009),
published by the federal Bureau of Land Management.
According to CLSA, the word "establishment" creates confusion for
practicing land surveyors because of the multiple interpretations
of the word and thereby impacts decisions regarding when to file
a record of survey. Therefore, the bill clarifies the statutory
criteria for a land surveyor requirement to file a record of
survey by expanding the definition of "establish" to include the
terms "location, relocation, reestablishment or retracement."
d) Weights and Measures. According to the Department of Food and
Agriculture (DFA), there are many references in the B&P Code to
the "director" of the Department of Food and Agriculture
(Department). This Governor's Cabinet level position was
reclassified to "Secretary" for the Department a number of years
ago and the Code has never been updated. There are other
references that are no longer current, i.e., National Bureau of
Standards (NBS) is now National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST), American Society of Testing and Materials
(ASTM) is now ASTM International, Society of Automotive Engineers
(SAE) is now SAE International.
DFA states that BPC � 12736 should be moved and renumbered as BPC �
13303. This section pertains to scanners and point of sale
systems (not weighmasters) and properly belongs in Chapter 13 of
the Code which references automatic checkout systems and point of
sale displays.
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DFA states that the language in BPC � 13302 is identical to the
language in BPC � 12015.3 and, therefore, unnecessary and often
creates confusion among county sealers of weights and measures
when trying to apply the administrative civil penalty.
3.Author's Amendment. The following will be offered as an Author's
amendment in Committee to correct a drafting error and make
technical and conforming amendments:
Amend page 5, line 11 through page 6, line 5 to read:
5070.1. (a) The Board may establish, by regulation, a system for
the placement of a license on into a retired status, upon
application, for certified public accountants and public
accountants who are not actively engaged in the practice of
public accountancy or any activity which requires them to be
licensed by the Board.
(b) No licensee with a license on in a retired status shall
engage in any activity for which a permit is required.
(c) The Board shall deny an applicant's application for to
place a retired status license in a retired status if the permit
is canceled or if the permit is subject to outstanding orders of
the Board, suspended, revoked, or otherwise punitively restricted
by the Board or subject to disciplinary action under this
chapter.
(d) Beginning one year from the effective date of the
regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision (a), if an
applicant's permit is delinquent, the board shall deny an
applicant's application for a retired status license. (1) The
holder of a license that was canceled pursuant to section 5070.7
may apply for the placement of that license in a retired status
pursuant to subsection (a).
(2) Upon approval of an application made pursuant to subsection
(d)(1), the Board shall reissue that license in a retired status.
(3) The holder of a canceled license that was placed in retired
status between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 1998, inclusive,
shall not be required to meet the qualifications established
pursuant to subsection (e), but shall be subject to all the other
requirements of this section.
(e) The Board shall establish minimum qualifications for to
place a retired status license in a retired status .
(f) The Board may exempt the holder of a retired status
license in a retired status from the renewal requirements
described in Section 5070.5.
(g) The Board shall establish minimum qualifications for the
restoration of a license in a retired status to an active status.
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These minimum qualifications shall include, but are not limited
to, continuing education and payment of a fee as provided in
subdivision (h) of Section 5134.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
Support:
California Board of Accountancy
Opposition:
None received as of April 16, 2012
Consultant:G. V. Ayers