Real estate licensees.

The Real Estate Law provides for the licensure and regulation of real estate brokers and real estate salespersons by the Bureau of Real Estate, headed by the Real Estate Commissioner. Fees charged and collected under the Real Estate Law, except as otherwise provided, are deposited into the Real Estate Fund and continuously appropriated for use by the commissioner, as specified. Existing law requires the commissioner to provide on the Internet specific information regarding the status of every license issued by the department. This bill would authorize the commissioner, upon petition by a licensee accompanied by a specified fee, to remove from the posting of discipline an item that has been posted on the bureau's Internet Web site for at least 10 years and for which the licensee provides evidence of rehabilitation indicating that the notice is no longer required to prevent a credible risk to members of the public utilizing licensed activity of the licensee. The bill would require the commissioner, in evaluating a petition, to take into consideration other violations that present a credible risk to the members of the public since the posting of discipline requested for removal, as specified. Because the fees collected pursuant to these provisions would be deposited in the Real Estate Fund, which is continuously appropriated, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would also authorize the bureau to develop, through regulations, the amount of the fee and the minimum information to be included in a licensee's petition, including, but not limited to, a written justification and evidence of rehabilitation. The bill would require the petition process to commence January 1, 2018. The bill would require the bureau to maintain a list of all licensees whose disciplinary records are altered as a result of the petition process and to update the list and make it available to other licensing bodies, as specified. This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 10083.2 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by AB 2330, that would become operative only if AB 2330 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last.