AB 177: Professions and vocations: licensing boards.

(1)The Professional Engineers Act provides for the licensure and regulation of engineers by the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists. The act requires the board to appoint an executive officer. Existing law repeals the board and the executive officer position on January 1, 2016.

This bill would extend the operation of these provisions to January 1, 2020. The bill, until January 1, 2020, would add as a cause for disciplinary action by the board, as specified, the failure or refusal of a licensee or certificate holder under the act to respond to a written request from a representative of the board to cooperate in the investigation of a complaint against that licensee or certificate holder.

(2)Existing law, the Architects Practice Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of architects and landscape architects by the California Architects Board and authorizes the board to appoint an executive officer. Existing law establishes, within the jurisdiction of the board, the Landscape Architects Technical Committee for the purpose of, among other things, assisting the board in the examination of candidates for a landscape architects license. Existing law repeals the board, the executive officer position, and the committee on January 1, 2016. Existing law requires a person to pass an examination as a condition of licensure as an architect and authorizes a person to take the examination if he or she meets certain examination eligibility requirements.

This bill would extend the operation of those provisions to January 1, 2020. The bill would also authorize the board to grant eligibility to a candidate to take the licensure examination if he or she is enrolled in an Additional Path to Architecture Licensing program, as specified.

(3)The Professional Land Surveyors Act provides for the licensure and regulation of land surveyors by the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists, which is vested with the power to administer the act until January 1, 2016.

This bill would extend that power to January 1, 2020. The bill, until January 1, 2020, would also add as a cause for disciplinary action by the board, as specified, the failure or refusal of a licensee or certificate holder under the act to respond to a written request from a representative of the board to cooperate in the investigation of a complaint against that licensee or certificate holder.

(4)The Geologist and Geophysicist Act provides for the registration and regulation of professional geologists and professional geophysicists and the certification of applicants in a specialty in geology and geologists-in-training by the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists. The act requires an applicant for registration as a geologist to meet certain requirements, including, among others, that he or she has graduated with a major in geological sciences from college or university, and requires an applicant for registration as a geophysicist to meet certain requirements, including, among others, that he or she has completed a combination of at least 30 semester hours in courses, as specified. The act requires an applicant for certification as a geologist-in-training to comply with certain requirements, including, among others, that the applicant successfully pass the Fundamentals of Geology examination.

This bill would provide for licensure instead of registration under the act. The bill would also allow an applicant for licensure as a geologist to have graduated from a college or university with a major in a discipline other than geological sciences that, in the opinion of the board, is relevant to geology. The bill would also allow an applicant for licensure as a geophysicist to have completed at least the equivalent of 30 semester hours in courses, as specified. The bill would require an applicant for certification as a geologist-in-training to have graduated from a college or university with a major in geological sciences or any other discipline relevant to geology, as specified. The bill, until January 1, 2020, would add as a cause for disciplinary action by the board, as specified, the failure or refusal of a licensee or certificate holder under the act to respond to a written request from a representative of the board to cooperate in the investigation of a complaint against that licensee or certificate holder.

(5)Under existing law, there is the Professions and Vocations Fund in the State Treasury, which consists of certain special funds and accounts, including the Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors Fund and the Geology and Geophysics Account of the Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors Fund. Under existing law the moneys in the Geology and Geophysics Account are continuously appropriated to carry out the purposes of the Geologist and Geophysicist Act, the moneys in the Professional Engineerss and Land Surveyors Fund are continuously appropriated for the purposes of the Professional Engineers Act and the Professional Land Surveyors Act, and the moneys in those funds that are attributable to administrative fines, civil penalties, and criminal penalties, as specified, are not continuously appropriated and are only available for expenditure upon appropriation by the Legislature.

This bill, beginning July 1, 2016, would abolish the Geology and Geophysics Account of the Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors Fund and would rename the Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors Fund as the Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists Fund. The bill would direct those moneys collected under the Professional Engineers Act, the Professional Land Surveyors Act, and the Geologist and Geophysicist Act to be deposited into the Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. Because additional moneys, except for fine and penalty money, would be deposited into a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation.

(6)This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 205 of the Business and Professions Code, proposed by AB 179 and AB 180, that would become operative only if this bill and either or both of those bills are chaptered and become effective January 1, 2016, and this bill is chaptered last.