Professions and vocations.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. (1) Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of the practice of accountancy by the California Board of Accountancy. Under existing law, permits to engage in the practice of public accountancy are required to be issued by the board only to holders of the certificate of certified public accountant, and to those partnerships, corporations, and other persons who, upon application approved by the board, are registered with the board. Under existing law, the rules of professional conduct adopted by the board are required to be printed as a part of the application blanks for both certificates and registration and every applicant for either a certificate or registration is required to subscribe thereto when making an application. This bill would require such an applicant to acknowledge the fact that the applicant has read and understands the rules of professional conduct adopted by the board. Existing law authorizes a partnership, except as specified, to be registered by the board to engage in the practice of public accountancy provided it meets certain requirements, including, but not limited to, that each partner personally engaged within this state in the practice of public accountancy has a valid permit or certificate to practice in this state and that, except as specified, each partner not personally engaged in the practice of public accountancy within this state is required to be a certified public accountant in good standing of some state. This bill would modify those requirements to instead include that each partner engaged within this state in the practice of public accountancy has a valid permit or certificate to practice in this state and that, except as specified, each partner not engaged in the practice of public accountancy within this state is required to be a certified public accountant in good standing of some state. Existing law requires a firm, in order to renew its registration, to have a specified peer review report accepted by a board-recognized peer review group. Existing law requires the board to adopt regulations and emergency regulations to implement, interpret, and make specific these peer review requirements. This bill would delete that requirement to adopt emergency regulations. Existing law requires an applicant for the certified public accountant license to comply with certain education, examination, and experience requirements under one of 2 provisions that set forth different standards, commonly referred to as the 2 "pathways." Existing law, under the 2nd pathway, requires an applicant to present satisfactory evidence that the applicant has completed certain education, and after December 31, 2013, that education is required to include specified ethics study. Existing law authorizes the Advisory Committee on Accounting Ethics Curriculum to determine that a course satisfies the ethics study requirement. No later than June 1, 2012, existing law also requires the Advisory Committee on Accounting Ethics Curriculum to recommend to the board ethics study guidelines, as defined, to be included as part of the educational requirements. This bill would delete those provisions establishing the responsibilities of the committee. Existing law authorizes the board to conditionally renew or reinstate for a maximum of one year the permit or certificate of a holder who demonstrates financial hardship and who enters into a formal agreement with the board to reimburse the board within that one-year period for those unpaid costs. This bill would authorize the board to conditionally renew or reinstate for a maximum of 3 years a permit or certificate if the holder demonstrates financial hardship and enters into a formal agreement with the board to reimburse the board within that 3-year period for those unpaid costs. Existing law provides that an accountant who is no longer actively engaged in practice may, upon application to the board and meeting specified requirements, have his or her license placed on retired status. Existing law prohibits the board, beginning on a specified date, from approving an application for a retired status license if the applicant's permit is delinquent. This bill would remove the prohibition against granting retired status to an accountant's license which had become delinquent and would allow an accountant whose license was canceled for failure to renew to apply for his or her license to be placed in retired status. This bill would also exempt holders of licenses placed in retired status during a specified period from complying with certain requirements. (2) Existing law, the Contractors' State License Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of contractors by the Contractors' State License Board. Existing law requires the board to appoint a registrar to serve as the executive officer and secretary of the board to carry out the duties delegated by the board. Under existing law, any person who reports to or causes a complaint to be filed with the board that a licensee has engaged in professional misconduct, knowing that complaint to be false, is guilty of a crime. Existing law authorizes the board to notify the district attorney or city attorney that a person has made what the board believes is a false report or complaint. This bill would limit application of those provisions to any person licensed by the board and would instead authorize the registrar to issue a citation to such a person. (3) Existing law, the Professional Land Surveyors' Act, provides for licensing and regulation of land surveyors by the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists. Existing law specifies the examinations required to obtain a license, with certain exemptions for registered professional engineers and certain engineers-in-training. This bill would limit that exemption to persons who were registered as California civil engineers. Existing law requires a licensed land surveyor to sign a corner record, other than lost corners, as defined. This bill would revise the references in these provisions to a manual issued by the United States Bureau of Land Management. Existing law requires a licensed land surveyor or licensed civil engineer, after making a field survey, to file with the county surveyor a record of the survey if, among other things, it discloses the establishment of one or more points or lines not shown on any subdivision map, official map, or record of survey, as specified. This bill would also require the field survey to be filed with the county surveyor if it discloses the location, relocation, reestablishment, or retracement of one or more points or lines not shown on any subdivision map, official map, or record of survey. Existing law provides for renewal of certificates of registration and authority for professional engineers to be renewed every 2 years, with renewals staggered on a monthly basis. This bill would require renewals to be staggered on a quarterly basis. (4) Existing law provides for licensing and regulation of service dealers by the Bureau of Electronic and Appliance Repair, Home Furnishings, and Thermal Insulation. Existing law provides for licensing and regulation of automotive repair dealers by the Bureau of Automotive Repair, and requires that bureau to cooperate with the Office of Traffic Safety relative to the adoption of standards for the installation of ignition interlock devices on motor vehicles. This bill would authorize a service dealer to install, calibrate, service, maintain, and monitor ignition interlock devices, and would exempt a person registered as a service dealer and whose work is limited to the installation or replacement of an ignition interlock device from the requirement to register with the Bureau of Automotive Repair. (5) This bill would make other technical, nonsubstantive, and conforming changes. Existing law vests the Secretary of Food and Agriculture with general supervision of weights and measures and weighing and measuring devices sold or used in the state, and authorizes the secretary to exercise any power conferred upon the department or upon the State Sealer, who is the chief of the division of the department charged with the enforcement of the provisions relating to weights and measures. This bill would make various technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions, to, among other things, correct references to the secretary, the California Agricultural Commissioners and Sealers Association, ASTM International, and SAE International. The bill would delete a duplicate provision and renumber a provision. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 5072 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by SB 1405, that would become operative only if SB 1405 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2013, and this bill is chaptered last.