BILL NUMBER: AB 181 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 23, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Committee on Business and Professions
( Assembly Members Bonilla
(Chair), Bloom, Dodd, Gatto, Holden, Mullin, Ting, and Wood
) Assembly Member Bonilla
( Coauthor: Senator Hill
)
JANUARY 26, 2015
An act to amend Section 7303 Sections
7303, 7303.2, 7313, 7395.1, 7401, 7404, and 7407 of , to
add Section 7314.3 to, and to repeal Section 7308 of, the
Business and Professions Code, relating to professions and vocations.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 181, as amended, Committee on Business and Professions
Bonilla . Professions and vocations: barbering
and cosmetology.
The Barbering and Cosmetology Act provides for the licensure and
regulation regulation, including inspection,
of barbers and cosmetologists by the State Board of Barbering
and Cosmetology in the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law
requires that the board consist of certain members, and authorizes
the board to appoint an executive officer. Under existing law, these
provisions are repealed on January 1, 2016.
This bill would extend the operation of these provisions until
January 1, 2020.
Existing law also requires the board to conduct specified reviews
and reports by various dates in the past.
This bill would delete those requirements and would require the
board, no later than November 1, 2018, to conduct specified reviews
regarding training and examinations and report its findings to
specified committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the
board to adopt regulations that establish a protocol for inspecting
establishments when an inspector has difficulty understanding or
communicating with the owner, manager, or employees of the
establishment due to language barriers. The bill would require the
board to establish a Health and Safety Advisory Committee to provide
the board with advice and recommendations on health and safety issues
before the board. The bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive
changes to these provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 7303 of the Business and Professions Code is
amended to read:
7303. (a) Notwithstanding Article 8 (commencing with Section
9148) of Chapter 1.5 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 2 of the
Government Code, there is in the Department of Consumer Affairs the
State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology in which the administration
of this chapter is vested.
(b) The board shall consist of nine members. Five members shall be
public members, and four members shall represent the professions.
The Governor shall appoint three of the public members and the four
professional members. The Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker
of the Assembly shall each appoint one public member. Members of the
board shall be appointed for a term of four years, except that of the
members appointed by the Governor, two of the public members and two
of the professions members shall be appointed for an initial term of
two years. No board member may serve longer than two consecutive
terms.
(c) The board may appoint an executive officer who is exempt from
civil service. The executive officer shall exercise the powers and
perform the duties delegated by the board and vested in him or her by
this chapter. The appointment of the executive officer is subject to
the approval of the director. In the event that a newly authorized
board replaces an existing or previous bureau, the director may
appoint an interim executive officer for the board who shall serve
temporarily until the new board appoints a permanent executive
officer.
(d) The executive officer shall provide examiners, inspectors, and
other personnel necessary to carry out the provisions of this
chapter.
(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2020, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends
that date. Notwithstanding any other law, the repeal of this section
renders the board subject to review by the appropriate policy
committees of the Legislature.
SEC. 2. Section 7303.2 of the Business
and Professions Code is amended to read:
7303.2. The board shall conduct the following studies
and reviews, and shall report its findings and
recommendations to the department and the Joint Committee on
Boards, Commissions, and Consumer Protection no later than September
1, 2005: Assembly Committee on Business and
Professions and the Senate Committee on Business, Professions, and
Economic Development no later than November 1, 2018:
(a) The board, pursuant to Section 139 and in conjunction with the
Office of Professional Examination Services of the department, shall
review the 1600 hour training requirement for cosmetologists.
(b) The board, in conjunction with the Office of Professional
Examination Services of the department, shall evaluate the
equivalency of the national exam.
(c) The board shall conduct a study to assess the costs and
benefits associated with requiring all applicants to submit
fingerprint cards for background investigations.
(d) The board, in coordination with the Department of Industrial
Relations, shall review all components of the apprenticeship program,
including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) Apprenticeship curriculum requirements.
(2) The standards for the preapprentice trainers, program
sponsors, trainers, and placement establishments. The board shall pay
particular attention to ways to eliminate duplicative regulations.
(e) The board shall review all components of the externship
program. In addition to structural changes, the board shall address
the following:
(1) Whether the program should be eliminated.
(2) Whether the program should be available to all students, not
just cosmetology students attending private schools.
(3) Whether the students should be paid.
(f) The board shall assess the costs and benefits associated with
same day licensing. If the board determines that the benefits of same
day licensing outweigh the costs, the board shall immediately plan
and implement safety measures to protect site staff and undispersed
licenses.
(g) The board, in conjunction with the Office of Professional
Examination Services of the department, shall assess the validity of
aggregate scoring for board applicants.
(b) The board shall review the Spanish language examination and
curriculum requirements to determine if, by January 1, 2016, the pass
rate for Spanish speakers did not increase to the average pass rate
for all other language examinations during the two-year period prior
to January 1, 2016.
SEC. 3. Section 7308 of the Business
and Professions Code is repealed.
7308. (a) The board shall study the effects of current law,
regulations, and policy related to the licensing functions of the
board that may create unnecessary barriers to employing people with
criminal records. The objective of the study shall be to identify
changes in law or board policy to help remove unnecessary barriers to
licensing due to criminal records while protecting the safety and
security of customers and the integrity of the occupations regulated
by the board. The board shall report all of its findings to the
Legislature on or before September 1, 2007.
(b) For each of the calendar years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and
2006, the study shall provide the following information:
(1) The total number of applicants, by occupation.
(2) The number of applicants who were denied licensure.
(3) The number of applicants, by occupation, who disclosed a
criminal record on their application. Of those applicants:
(A) The number of applicants who were denied licensure.
(B) The number of applicants who were denied licensure who
requested a hearing to appeal the decision.
(C) The number of applicants whose appeal resulted in reversal or
modification of the decision, including the issuance of a
probationary license.
(D) The age and severity of each offense.
(E) The number of applicants with nonviolent drug offenses.
(F) The number of applicants with misdemeanor offenses.
(G) The number of applicants that were asked by the board to
supply additional information relating to their criminal record.
(H) The number of applicants who provided evidence of
rehabilitation.
(4) The criteria applied by the board to determine whether an
applicant's criminal record is substantially related to the requested
license, including the specific categories of disqualifying offenses
and any criteria related to the age and severity of the
disqualifying offenses.
(5) The criteria applied by the board to determine whether an
applicant has been sufficiently rehabilitated, including an analysis
of the factors that most often lead to a determination of
rehabilitation resulting in licensing.
(6) The average length of time that an appeal is pending relative
to the date of the hearing request and final decision.
(7) The number and percentage of appeals pending longer than 30
days and longer than 100 days from the time the applicant requested
the hearing.
SEC. 4. Section 7313 of the Business
and Professions Code is amended to read:
7313. (a) (1) To ensure compliance with the laws and regulations
of this chapter, the board's executive officer and authorized
representatives shall, except as provided by Section 159.5, have
access to, and shall inspect, any establishment or mobile unit during
business hours or at any time in which barbering, cosmetology, or
electrolysis are being performed. It is the intent of the Legislature
that inspections be conducted on Saturdays and Sundays as well as
weekdays, if collective bargaining agreements and civil service
provisions permit.
(2) The board shall maintain a program of random and targeted
inspections of establishments to ensure compliance with applicable
laws relating to the public health and safety and the conduct and
operation of establishments. The board or its authorized
representatives shall inspect establishments to reasonably determine
compliance levels and to identify market conditions that require
targeted enforcement. The board shall not reduce the number of
employees assigned to perform random inspections, targeted
inspections, and investigations relating to field operations below
the level funded by the annual Budget Act and described in supporting
budget documents, and shall not redirect funds or personnel-years
allocated to those inspection and investigation purposes to other
purposes.
(b) To ensure compliance with health and safety requirements
adopted by the board, the executive officer and authorized
representatives shall, except as provided in Section 159.5, have
access to, and shall inspect the premises of, all schools in which
the practice of barbering, cosmetology, or electrolysis is performed
on the public. Notices of violation shall be issued to schools for
violations of regulations governing conditions related to the health
and safety of patrons. Each notice shall specify the section violated
and a timespan within which the violation must be corrected. A copy
of the notice of violation shall be provided to the Bureau for
Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education.
(c) With prior written authorization from the board or its
executive officer, any member of the board may enter and visit, in
his or her capacity as a board member, any establishment, during
business hours or at any time when barbering, cosmetology, or
electrolysis is being performed. The visitation by a board member
shall be for the purpose of conducting official board business, but
shall not be used as a basis for any licensing disciplinary action by
the board.
(d) The board shall adopt regulations that establish a protocol
for inspecting establishments when an inspector has difficulty
understanding or communicating with the owner, manager, or employees
of the establishment due to language barriers.
SEC. 5. Section 7314.3 is added to the
Business and Professions Code , to read:
7314.3. The board shall establish a Health and Safety Advisory
Committee to provide the board with advice and recommendations on
health and safety issues before the board.
SEC. 6. Section 7395.1 of the Business
and Professions Code is amended to read:
7395.1. (a) A student who is enrolled in a school of cosmetology
approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and
Vocational Education in a course approved by the board may,
upon completion of a minimum of 60 percent of the clock hours
required for graduation in the course, work as an unpaid extern in a
cosmetology establishment participating in the educational program of
the school of cosmetology.
(b) A person working as an extern shall receive clock hour credit
toward graduation, but that credit shall not exceed eight hours per
week and shall not exceed 10 percent of the total clock hours
required for completion of the course.
(c) The externship program shall be conducted in cosmetology
establishments meeting all of the following criteria:
(1) The establishment is licensed by the board.
(2) The establishment has a minimum of four licensees working at
the establishment, including employees and owners or managers.
(3) All licensees at the establishment are in good standing with
the board.
(4) Licensees working at the establishment work for salaries or
commissions rather than on a space rental basis.
(5) No more than one extern shall work in an establishment for
every four licensees working in the establishment. No regularly
employed licensee shall be displaced or have his or her work hours
reduced or altered to accommodate the placement of an extern in an
establishment. Prior to placement of the extern, the establishment
shall agree in writing sent to the school and to all affected
licensees that no reduction or alteration of any licensee's current
work schedule shall occur. This shall not prevent a licensee from
voluntarily reducing or altering his or her work schedule.
(6) Externs shall wear conspicuous school identification at all
times while working in the establishment, and shall carry a school
laminated identification, that includes a picture, in a form approved
by the board.
(d) (1) A school participating in the externship program shall
provide the participating establishment and the extern with a
syllabus containing applicable information specified in Section 73880
of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations. The extern, the
school, and the establishment shall agree to the terms of and sign
the syllabus prior to the extern beginning work at the establishment.
No less than 90 percent of the responsibilities and duties of the
extern shall consist of the acts included within the practice of
cosmetology as defined in Section 7316.
(2) The establishment shall consult with the assigning school
regarding the extern's progress during the unpaid externship. The
owner or manager of the establishment shall monitor and report on the
student's progress to the school on a regular basis, with assistance
from supervising licensees.
(3) A participating school shall assess the extern's learning
outcome from the externship program. The school shall maintain
accurate records of the extern's educational experience in the
externship program and records that indicate how the extern's
learning outcome translates into course credit.
(e) Participation in an externship program made available by a
school shall be voluntary, may be terminated by the student at any
time, and shall not be a prerequisite for graduation.
(f) The cosmetology establishment that chooses to utilize the
extern is liable for the extern's general liability insurance, as
well as cosmetology malpractice liability insurance, and shall
furnish proof to the participating school that the establishment is
covered by both forms of liability insurance and that the extern is
covered under that insurance.
(g) (1) It is the purpose of the externship program authorized by
this section to provide students with skills, knowledge, and
attitudes necessary to acquire employment in the field for which they
are being trained, and to extend formalized classroom instruction.
(2) Instruction shall be based on skills, knowledge, attitudes,
and performance levels in the area of cosmetology for which the
instruction is conducted.
(3) An extern may perform only acts listed within the definition
of the practice of cosmetology as provided in Section 7316, if a
licensee directly supervises those acts, except that an extern may
not use or apply chemical treatments unless the extern has received
appropriate training in application of those treatments from an
approved cosmetology school. An extern may work on a paying client
only in an assisting capacity and only with the direct and immediate
supervision of a licensee.
(4) The extern shall not perform any work in a manner that would
violate law.
SEC. 7. Section 7401 of the Business
and Professions Code is amended to read:
7401. (a) An individual licensed pursuant to Section 7396 shall
report to the board at the time of license renewal, his or her
practice status, designated as one of the following:
(1) Full-time practice in California.
(2) Full-time practice outside of California.
(3) Part-time practice in California.
(4) Not working in the industry.
(5) Retired.
(6) Other practice status, as may be further defined by the board.
(b) An individual licensed pursuant to Section 7396 shall, at the
time of license renewal, identify himself or herself on the
application as one of the following:
(1) Employee.
(2) Independent contractor or booth renter.
(3) Salon owner.
(c) An individual licensed pursuant to Section 7347 shall report
to the board at the time of license renewal, whether either of the
following is applicable to him or her:
(1) He or she has a booth renter operating in the establishment.
(2) He or she has an independent contractor operating in the
establishment.
(d) The board shall report to the Senate Committee on Business and
Professions and the Assembly Committee on Business and Professions
within five years after the implementation of the provisions of this
section on the licensee information collected, including an
assessment of whether a certain type of licensee is more likely to
receive complaints or citations, or to fail to pay taxes, and any
recommendation on how to remedy problems found.
SEC. 8. Section 7404 of the Business
and Professions Code is amended to read:
7404. The grounds for disciplinary action are as follows:
(a) Unprofessional conduct which includes, but is not limited to,
any of the following:
(1) Incompetence or gross negligence, including failure to comply
with generally accepted standards for the practice of barbering,
cosmetology, or electrology or disregard for the health and safety of
patrons.
(2) Repeated similar negligent acts.
(3) Conviction of any crime substantially related to the
qualifications, functions, or duties of the licenseholder, in which
case, the records of conviction or a certified copy shall be
conclusive evidence thereof.
(4) Advertising by means of knowingly false or deceptive
statements.
(b) Failure to comply with the requirements of this chapter.
(c) Failure to comply with the rules governing health and safety
adopted by the board and approved by the State Department of
Health Services, Public Health, for the
regulation of establishments, or any practice licensed and regulated
under this chapter.
(d) Failure to comply with the rules adopted by the board for the
regulation of establishments, or any practice licensed and regulated
under this chapter.
(e) Continued practice by a person knowingly having an infectious
or contagious disease.
(f) Habitual drunkenness, habitual use of or addiction to the use
of any controlled substance.
(g) Obtaining or attempting to obtain practice in any occupation
licensed and regulated under this chapter, or money, or compensation
in any form, by fraudulent misrepresentation.
(h) Failure to display the license or health and safety rules and
regulations in a conspicuous place.
(i) Engaging, outside of a licensed establishment and for
compensation in any form whatever, in any practice for which a
license is required under this chapter, except that when the service
is provided because of illness or other physical or mental
incapacitation of the recipient of the service and when performed by
a licensee obtained for the purpose from a licensed establishment.
(j) Permitting a license to be used where the holder is not
personally, actively, and continuously engaged in business.
(k) The making of any false statement as to a material matter in
any oath or affidavit, which is required by the provisions of this
chapter.
( l ) Refusal to permit or interference with an
inspection authorized under this chapter.
(m) Any action or conduct which would have warranted the denial of
a license.
(n) Failure to surrender a license that was issued in error or by
mistake.
SEC. 9. Section 7407 of the Business
and Professions Code is amended to read:
7407. The board shall establish by regulation a schedule of
administrative fines for violations of this chapter. All moneys
collected under this section shall be deposited in the board's
contingent fund.
The schedule shall indicate for each type of violation whether, in
the board's discretion, the violation can be corrected. The
board shall review and revise the schedule of administrative fines
for violations by January 1, 2005. The board shall ensure
that it and the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and
Vocational Education do not issue citations for the same
violation.