BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 1685 (Williams) - Structural pest control operator fees.
Amended: April 21, 2014 Policy Vote: BP&ED 8-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: June 30, 2013
Consultant: Mark McKenzie
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1685 would increase the license examination
fees imposed by the Structural Pest Control Board (SPCB) on pest
control operators, field representatives, and applicators. The
bill would also authorize a structural pest control company to
provide a specified written notice to a building owner, or
owner's agent, and tenant by electronic mail.
Fiscal Impact:
Minor costs to the SPCB to revise regulations to reflect
increased examination fees. (Structural Pest Control Fund)
Estimated revenue gains of approximately $364,000 for
expenditure on computer based testing of applicants, based
on an anticipated examination fee increase of $40.
(Structural Pest Control Fund).
Background: Existing law provides for the licensing and
regulation of structural pest control applicators, field
representatives and operators, and structural pest control
companies by the SPCB within the Department of Consumer Affairs
(DCA) and repeals the SPCB on January 1, 2015. Existing law
also prescribes a fee schedule for various licensing and
examination fees, including examination fees of up to $25 for
operators, up to $15 for field representatives, and up to $15
for applicators.
Proposed Law: AB 1685 would authorize a structural pest control
company to provide a written notice by electronic mail to a
building owner, or owner's agent, and tenant of the premises
where work is to be done. The bill would also raise the maximum
fees that the SPCB may charge for examinations as follows:
Operator examination fee: increase from $25 to $100
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Field representative examination fee: increase from $15
to $75
Applicator examination fee: increase from $15 to $60
In addition, the bill would remove specified caps on examination
fees and instead authorize the SPCB to charge a fee in an amount
sufficient to cover the "reasonable regulatory cost" of
administering each exam.
Related Legislation: SB 1244 (Lieu), currently pending in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee, would extend the sunset of
the SPCB and the term of its executive officer until January 1,
2019. The bill would also make a number of technical and
clarifying changes to update the Structural Pest Control Law.
Staff Comments: The proposed increase to the fee cap is intended
to facilitate the implementation of a modernized computer based
testing (CBT) methodology. This would enable the SPCB to
enhance the security of the testing, since there was a recent
incident in which the written test was compromised, simplify
test validation and monitoring, and improve the convenience of
the examination. Under the written test system, there were only
two testing locations and examinations were only held at
scheduled intervals. Under a fully implemented CBT model, there
would be 17 testing sites in the state, testing could be offered
at any time, and the tests could be offered remotely in other
states. The SPCB has begun to offer CBT on a pilot basis in two
locations and is currently absorbing the additional examination
costs. Through DCA's current vendor, the CBT costs an
additional $37.50 per exam to administer.
The SPCB anticipates increasing the examination fees by roughly
$40 per licensure category to cover the actual costs of
administering the CBT examinations. The proposed examination
fee increases by the Board would raise the operator examination
fee from $25 to $65; the field representative examination fee
from $15 to $50; and the applicator examination fee from $15 to
$55.
Staff notes that the Structural Pest Control Fund, which
supports the activities of the SPCB, is in a declining
condition. Expenditures from the fund outpaced revenues by
$593,000 in the current year and are projected to outpace
revenues by $547,000 in 2014-15. The fund's reserve has
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declined from $1.37 million at the end of 2012-13, to $770,000
at the end of 2013-14, and is projected to be $223,000 at the
end of 2014-15. The bill provides authority to raise the
licensing examination fees beyond the current proposal to
increase the fees by $40 per licensing category. The additional
fee authority could help the condition of the fund.