BILL NUMBER: SB 355 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 11, 2007
INTRODUCED BY Senator Margett
FEBRUARY 20, 2007
An act to amend Section 6703.1 7026.1
of the Business and Professions Code, relating to
engineers contractors, and making an
appropriation therefor .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 355, as amended, Margett. Engineers: construction
supervision. Contractors: consultants.
Existing law, the Contractors' State License Law, provides for the
licensure and regulation of contractors and defines a contractor as,
among other things, a consultant to an owner-builder who undertakes,
purports to have the capacity to undertake, or submits a bid, to
construct a building or home improvement project, or part thereof.
Existing law requires contractors to pay specified fees that are
deposited into the continuously appropriated Contractors' License
Fund. Under existing law, it is a crime for a person to act as a
contractor without a license.
This bill would define a contractor to include a person who
schedules subcontractors, reviews and makes recommendations on bids
and the selection of persons subject to licensure, or provides a
service in order to complete a project, or part thereof, in a
contracting business that is covered by a specified license
classification.
Because this bill would increase fees deposited into the
Contractors' License Fund, the bill would make an appropriation. In
addition, because this bill would expand the definition of a
contractor and create new crimes, the bill would impose a
state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Existing law, the Professional Engineers Act, creates the Board
for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors within the Department
of Consumer Affairs and makes the board responsible for the licensure
and regulation of civil engineers, electrical engineers, and
mechanical engineers. The act defines various terms for its purposes,
including "supervision of the construction of engineering
structures."
This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to this definition.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no yes
. Fiscal committee: no yes .
State-mandated local program: no yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 7026.1 of the
Business and Professions Code is amended to read:
7026.1. The term "contractor" includes all of the following:
(a) Any A person not exempt under
Section 7053 who maintains or services air-conditioning, heating, or
refrigeration equipment that is a fixed part of the structure to
which it is attached.
(b) Any A person, consultant to an
owner-builder, firm, association, organization, partnership, business
trust, corporation, or company, who or which undertakes, offers to
undertake, purports to have the capacity to undertake, or submits a
bid, to construct any a building or
home improvement project, or part thereof.
(c) A temporary labor service agency that, as the employer,
provides employees for the performance of work covered by this
chapter. The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply if there
is a properly licensed contractor who exercises supervision in
accordance with Section 7068.1 and who is directly responsible for
the final results of the work. Nothing in this subdivision shall
require a qualifying individual, as provided in Section 7068, to be
present during the supervision of work covered by this chapter. A
contractor requesting the services of a temporary labor service
agency shall provide his or her license number to that temporary
labor service agency.
(d) Any A person not otherwise
exempt by this chapter, who performs tree removal, tree pruning,
stump removal, or engages in tree or limb cabling or guying. The term
contractor does not include a person performing the activities of a
nurseryperson who in the normal course of routine work performs
incidental pruning of trees, or guying of planted trees and their
limbs. The term contractor does not include a gardener who in the
normal course of routine work performs incidental pruning of trees
measuring less than 15 feet in height after planting.
(e) Any A person engaged in the
business of drilling, digging, boring, or otherwise constructing,
deepening, repairing, reperforating, or abandoning any
a water well, cathodic protection well, or
monitoring well.
(f) A person who does any of the following:
(1) Schedules subcontractors.
(2) Reviews and makes recommendations on bids and the selection of
contractors or service providers who are subject to licensure under
this chapter.
(3) Provides a service in order to complete a project, or part
thereof, in a contracting business that is covered by a license
classification specified in Section 7056, 7057, or 7058.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local
agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a
new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or
changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of
Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a
crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution.
SECTION 1. Section 6703.1 of the Business and
Professions Code is amended to read:
6703.1. "Supervision of the construction of engineering
structures" means the periodic observation of materials and completed
work to determine general compliance with plans, specifications, and
design and planning concepts. However, "supervision of the
construction of engineering structures" does not include
responsibility for the superintendence of construction processes,
site conditions, operations, equipment, personnel, or the maintenance
of a safe place to work or any safety in, on, or about the site.
For purposes of this section, "periodic observation" means visits
by an engineer, or his or her agent, to the site of a work of
improvement.