Contractors: civil penalties: letters of admonishment.

Existing law, except as specified, authorizes any board, bureau, or commission within the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) to establish, by regulation, a system for the issuance to a licensee of a citation which may contain an order of abatement or an order to pay an administrative fine assessed by the board, bureau, or commission where the licensee is in violation of the applicable licensing act or regulation adopted under the act. Existing law prohibits an administrative fine assessed by the board, bureau, or commission from exceeding $5,000 for each inspection or each investigation made with respect to the violation, or, if the violation involves fraudulent billing submitted to an insurance company, the Medi-Cal program, or Medicare, $5,000 for each violation or count (administrative fine maximum) . Other existing law, the Contractors State License Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of contractors by the Contractors State License Board in the DCA. Existing law provides for related disciplinary proceedings and requires the board to promulgate regulations covering the assessment of civil penalties under those disciplinary provisions, as prescribed. Existing law, except as specified, prohibits the assessment of a civil penalty in an amount greater than $5,000. Existing law, notwithstanding the administrative fine maximum, authorizes a civil penalty not to exceed $15,000 for certain violations relating to unlicensed persons. This bill would increase the civil penalty limit from $5,000 to $8,000, notwithstanding the administrative fine maximum, and would increase the enhanced civil penalty limit from $15,000 to $30,000. The bill would expand the enhanced civil penalty limit to apply to certain violations relating to workers' compensation insurance coverage. Existing law requires the board, by and with the approval of the Director of Consumer Affairs, to appoint a registrar of contractors to administer existing law. Existing law authorizes the registrar or a designee to issue a letter of admonishment to an applicant, licensee, or registrant in lieu of issuing a citation, as prescribed, if, upon investigation, the registrar has probable cause to believe that a licensee, registrant, or applicant has committed acts or omissions that are grounds for denial, suspension, or revocation of a license or registration. Existing law prohibits the board from issuing a letter of admonishment if any of several factors is present, including the factor that multiple violations have been established. This bill would delete the multiple violations factor.