Convictions: expungement: licenses.

Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law authorizes a board to deny, suspend, or revoke a license on various grounds, including, but not limited to, conviction of a crime if the crime is substantially related to the qualifications, functions, or duties of the business or profession for which the license was issued. Existing law prohibits a board from denying a license on the ground that the applicant has committed a crime if the applicant shows that he or she obtained a certificate of rehabilitation in the case of a felony, or that he or she has met all applicable requirements of the criteria of rehabilitation developed by the board, as specified, in the case of a misdemeanor. Existing law permits a defendant to withdraw his or her plea of guilty or plea of nolo contendere and enter a plea of not guilty in any case in which a defendant has fulfilled the conditions of probation for the entire period of probation, or has been discharged prior to the termination of the period of probation, or has been convicted of a misdemeanor and not granted probation and has fully complied with and performed the sentence of the court, or has been sentenced to a county jail for a felony, or in any other case in which a court, in its discretion and the interests of justice, determines that a defendant should be granted this or other specified relief and requires the defendant to be released from all penalties and disabilities resulting from the offense of which he or she has been convicted. This bill would prohibit a board within the Department of Consumer Affairs from denying a license based solely on a conviction that has been dismissed pursuant to the above provisions. The bill would require an applicant who has a conviction that has been dismissed pursuant to the above provisions to provide proof of the dismissal.