BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 630|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 630
Author: Chu (D)
Amended: 8/14/06 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BUS., PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE : 3-2, 6/12/06
AYES: Figueroa, Florez, Simitian
NOES: Aanestad, Morrow
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 48-31, 1/30/06 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Immigration consultants
SOURCE : California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
DIGEST : This bill increases the regulation of
immigration consultants by: (1) requiring fingerprinting
and background checks; (2) authorizing the Secretary of
State to issue cease and desist orders; and (3) requiring
the Secretary of State to post information on its Internet
Web site about bond compliance, filing of disclosure
statements, and passing of background checks, and to post
photographs of immigration consultants. In addition, the
bill increases the statute of limitations for prosecuting
actions under the Immigration Consultants Act to four
years.
ANALYSIS :
CONTINUED
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Existing Law
1.Defines an immigration consultant as a person giving
non-legal assistance or advice on an immigration matter,
such as completing forms, translating answers, securing
forms, making referrals, or submitting forms.
2.Requires immigration consultants to provide a client, in
the client's native language, with a written contract
with certain contract language requirements and
restrictions prescribed by Department of Consumer Affairs
regulations, and exempts from this requirement employees
of a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation who provide
certain free or low-cost services.
3.Requires immigration consultants to provide a client
with payment receipts, as well as statements of services
and payments every two months.
4.Requires immigration consultants to visibly display
certain information, such as evidence of compliance with
the bonding requirement, a statement that the immigration
consultant is not an attorney, and fee information, and
to provide similar written information to clients prior
to providing services.
5.Requires an immigration consultant to clearly identify
that he/she is not an attorney.
6.Requires all immigration consultants to file a $50,000
surety bond, related disclosure form, and other specified
information with the Secretary of State, and to file and
routinely update additional business information with the
Secretary of State, and allows the Secretary of State to
charge a fee to cover the costs of filing and maintaining
the bond.
7.Prohibits a person from advertising as an immigration
consultant until a bond has been filed and requires the
Secretary of State to post information regarding bonding
status of immigration consultants.
8.Makes a violation of all of the aforementioned
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requirements a civil penalty not to exceed $100,000 for
each violation and a misdemeanor punishable by a fine no
less than $2000 and no more than $10,000 per client
and/or no more than one year imprisonment in the county
jail and makes a second or subsequent violation for
certain provisions a felony.
9.Provide the courts and the State Bar with the authority
to initiate civil proceedings to stop the unauthorized
practice of law by non-attorneys.
This bill:
1.Imposes the following additional requirements on a
person in order to conduct business as an immigration
consultant:
A. Submit fingerprints to the Secretary of State (SOS)
for a criminal background check.
B. Submit a photograph to the SOS for posting on the
SOS Web site.
C. Submit to the SOS a disclosure statement, undergo a
criminal background check and be subject to
disqualification for specified reasons.
D. Include, in the written contract with a client that
is currently required, information regarding reporting
complaints to the California Department of Justice and
the State Bar of California.
2.Requires the SOS:
A. To post business information from the disclosure
statements on its Web site, demonstrating that a
background check had been conducted and information
about the immigration consultant's bond compliance.
B. To issue a cease and desist order to a person who
has failed to pass the background check, subject to an
opportunity for the person to demonstrate that grounds
do not exist for a cease and desist order.
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C. To not file a bond, disclosure form, or photograph
of a person who has failed to pass the required
background check.
D. To issue a cease and desist order to an immigration
consultant who failed to maintain a valid bond,
subject to an opportunity for the person to
demonstrate that grounds do not exist for a cease and
desist order.
E. To notify the Attorney General of the failure by an
immigration consultant to comply with the bond
requirement or if an immigration consultant's bond has
been canceled, withdrawn, or expired.
3.Requires that a civil action under these provisions of
the ICA be commenced within four years of the discovery
of the commission of the violation.
Background
California first enacted its regulation of immigration
consultants in 1986, allowing, under certain conditions and
requirements, non-lawyers to provide immigration consulting
services. The law was a response to a federal amnesty bill
that led to a high volume of citizenship applications and
concerns regarding the unscrupulous practices of
immigration consultants. In response to continuing
problems with immigration consulting fraud, the law has
been amended to improve the protections for clients:
AB 2520 (Napolitano), Chapter 561, Statutes of 1994 ,
requires immigration consultants to register with the
Department of Consumer Affairs, increases criminal fines
and created new civil fines and penalties for violations of
the law.
AB 3137 (Escutia), Chapter 562, Statutes of 1994 , requires
consultants to file a surety bond and provide clients with
copies of every document completed on their behalf.
AB 1348 (Senate Bus. & Prof. Committee), Chapter 790,
Statutes of 1997 , increases the bonding requirement from
$10,000 to $25,000, and extends the law's sunset date for
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four years to 2002.
AB 1079 (Rod Pacheco0, Chapter 336, Statutes of 1999 ,
doubles the bonding requirement to $50,000, adds new
penalty provisions, and reinstates specified consultant
reporting requirements.
AB 2687 (Margett0, Chapter 194, Statutes of 2000 , prohibits
a notary public from entering data on an immigration form
at a client's request unless the notary is also license and
bonded as an immigration consultant.
AB 1858 (Romero), Chapter 674, Statutes of 2000 , increases
the maximum civil penalty for a violation of the
immigration consultants law from $10,000 to $100,000, and
requires that advertisements by or on behalf of a State Bar
member, publishes in the classified or "yellow pages"
section of a telephone directory regarding legal services
related to immigration or naturalization services, must
include a statement that the person is an active member of
the State Bar. Further, if the advertisement solicits for
the employment of a law firm or corporation that employs
more than one attorney, the advertisement must disclose
that services related to immigration or naturalization
provided by the firm or corporation must be provided by an
active State Bar member, or by a person under the member's
active supervision.
SB 1194 (Romero), Chapter 304, Statutes of 2001 , make it
unlawful for any person to hold himself/herself out to be
an immigration consultant unless he/she has on file with
the Secretary of State the required bond. In addition, it
requires the immigration consultant to maintain the bond
for the duration of the period covered by any advertisement
for such services, and repeals the January 1, 2002 sunset
date on the law that allows damages to be recover from the
bond for unlawful acts of immigration consultants.
AB 1999 (Correa and Maldonado), Chapter 705, Statutes of
2002 , authorizes the AG, DA, or city attorney to seek civil
penalties of up to $100,000 in prosecuting cases pursuant
to the Immigration Consultants Act, as well as injunctive
relief, restitution or other equitable relief on behalf of
the general public. It also authorizes courts to order
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relief for benefit of the injured parties to be paid from
the bond that an immigration consultant is required to post
with the Secretary of State pursuant to law.
AB 534 (Vargas), Chapter 534, Statutes of 2003 , increases
the client notification (written disclosure) and written
contract requirements for immigration consultants, and
requires the consultant to post in his/her office a list of
his/her services and the related fees.
AB 2691 (Correa), Chapter 557, Statues of 2004 , restricts
the use of a bond for compliance purposes to only that
person or his/her employee, requires the Secretary of State
to maintain a website for public access to information on
immigration consultants' bond status, and requires
immigration consultants to provide specifying identifying
information.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/16/06)
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation (source)
APABA of Los Angeles County
Asian Law Caucas
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
Asian Pacific Islander Bar Association of Lo Angeles County
Asian Americnas for Civil Rights and Equality
California Association of Bilingual Education
California District Attorneys Association
California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
California Together Coalition
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles County
Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund
North Valley Sponsoring Committee
Office of Attorney General Bill Lockyer
Santa Clara County District Attorney
Secretary of State Bruce McPherson
Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network
Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association
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Student Empowerment Project
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office, indicates
that this bill is needed to protect consumers from
fraudulent immigration consultants by requiring the
Secretary of State to conduct background checks on
immigration consultants, and by authorizing the Secretary
of State to issue a "cease and desist" letter to
immigration consultants for violating state bonding
requirements. The author's office notes that this bill
will provide law enforcement agencies with additional tools
to prosecute immigration consultants that violate the law.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Arambula, Baca, Bass, Berg, Bermudez, Calderon,
Canciamilla, Chan, Chavez, Chu, Cohn, Coto, De La Torre,
Dymally, Evans, Frommer, Goldberg, Hancock, Jerome
Horton, Jones, Karnette, Klehs, Koretz, Laird, Leno,
Levine, Lieber, Lieu, Liu, Matthews, Montanez, Mullin,
Nation, Nava, Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Parra, Pavley,
Ridley-Thomas, Ruskin, Saldana, Salinas, Torrico, Umberg,
Vargas, Wolk, Yee, Nunez
NOES: Aghazarian, Benoit, Blakeslee, Bogh, Cogdill,
Daucher, DeVore, Emmerson, Garcia, Harman, Haynes,
Shirley Horton, Huff, Keene, La Malfa, La Suer, Leslie,
Maze, McCarthy, Mountjoy, Nakanishi, Niello, Plescia,
Richman, Sharon Runner, Spitzer, Strickland, Tran,
Villines, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Houston
JJA:do 8/18/06 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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