Amended in Assembly April 23, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 181

Introduced by begin delete Committee on Business and Professions (Assembly Members Bonilla (Chair), Bloom, Dodd, Gatto, Holden, Mullin, Ting, and Wood) end delete begin insert Assembly Member Bonilla end insert

begin insert

(Coauthor: Senator Hill)

end insert

January 26, 2015

An act to amend begin delete Section 7303 end delete begin insert Sections 7303, 7303.2, 7313, 7395.1, 7401, 7404, and 7407 end insert of begin insert , to add Section 7314.3 to, and to repeal Section 7308 of, end insert the Business and Professions Code, relating to professions and vocations.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 181, as amended, begin delete Committee on Business and Professions end delete   begin insert Bonilla end insert . Professions and vocations: barbering and cosmetology.

The Barbering and Cosmetology Act provides for the licensure and begin delete regulation end delete begin insert regulation, including inspection, end insert 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 Under existing law, these provisions are repealed on January 1, 2016.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.

begin insert

Existing law also requires the board to conduct specified reviews and reports by various dates in the past.

end insert begin insert

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.

end insert

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.

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 7303.2 of the end insert begin insert Business and Professions Code end insert
begin insert is amended to read: end insert

7303.2.  

The board shall conduct the following begin delete studies and end delete
reviews, and shall report its findings and recommendations to the
begin delete department and the Joint Committee on Boards, Commissions,
and Consumer Protection no later than September 1, 2005: end delete
begin insert Assembly Committee on Business and Professions and the Senate
Committee on Business, Professions, and Economic Development
no later than November 1, 2018: end insert

(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.

begin delete

(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.

end delete begin insert

(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.

end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 3. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 7308 of the end insert begin insert Business and Professions Code end insert begin insert is
repealed. end insert

begin delete

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.

end delete

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 4. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 7313 of the end insert begin insert Business and Professions Code end insert begin insert is
amended to read: end insert

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 begin delete and Vocational end delete 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.

begin insert

(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.

end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 5. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 7314.3 is added to the end insert begin insert Business and Professions
Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 7314.3. end insert   

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.

end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 6. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 7395.1 of the end insert begin insert Business and Professions Code end insert
begin insert is amended to read: end insert

7395.1.  

(a) A student who is enrolled in a school of
cosmetology approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary
begin delete and Vocational end delete 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.

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 7. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 7401 of the end insert begin insert Business and Professions Code end insert begin insert is
amended to read: end insert

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.

begin delete

(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.

end delete

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 8. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 7404 of the end insert begin insert Business and Professions Code end insert begin insert is
amended to read: end insert

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
begin delete Health Services, end delete begin insert Public Health, end insert 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.

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 9. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 7407 of the end insert begin insert Business and Professions Code end insert begin insert is
amended to read: end insert

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. begin delete The board
shall review and revise the schedule of administrative fines for
violations by January 1, 2005. end delete The board shall ensure that it and
the Bureau for Private Postsecondary begin delete and Vocational end delete Education
do not issue citations for the same violation.