Bill Text: CA SB581 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Apprenticeships: electricians.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-31 - Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [SB581 Detail]
Download: California-2011-SB581-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 581 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 21, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Liu
FEBRUARY 17, 2011
An act to add Article 1.5 (commencing with Section 49310)
to Chapter 8 of Part 27 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Education
Code, relating to pupil safety. amend Sections 3099
and 3099.2 of the Labor Code, relating to employment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 581, as amended, Liu. Pupil safety: walking schoolbus.
Apprenticeships: electricians.
Existing law provides for the Division of Apprenticeship Standards
within the Department of Industrial Relations to establish standards
for the competency and training of electricians, including
apprenticeship programs. Existing law provides that a person in an
approved apprenticeship program may perform specified electrical and
other work under the supervision of a licensed electrical contractor.
This bill would specify the kinds of nonelectrical tasks, as
described, that may be validly performed by nonlicensed electrical
apprentices working for a licensed electrical contractor.
Existing law makes each school district and county office of
education responsible for the overall development of all
comprehensive school safety plans for its schools operating
kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive. Existing law
requires that a comprehensive school safety plan include specified
elements, including, but not limited to, development of procedures
for safe ingress and egress of pupils, parents, and school employees
to and from school.
This bill would authorize the governing board of any school
district to establish and maintain a walking schoolbus, defined as a
group of pupils walking to or from school with one or more
supervising adults, for the purpose of ensuring the safe passage of
pupils to and from school.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 3099 of the Labor
Code is amended to read:
3099. (a) The Division of Apprenticeship Standards shall do all
of the following:
(1) On or before July 1, 2001, establish and validate minimum
standards for the competency and training of electricians through a
system of testing and certification.
(2) On or before March 1, 2000, establish an advisory committee
and panels as necessary to carry out the functions under this
section. There shall be contractor representation from both joint
apprenticeship programs and unilateral nonunion programs in the
electrical contracting industry.
(3) On or before July 1, 2001, establish fees necessary to
implement this section.
(4) On or before July 1, 2001, establish and adopt regulations to
enforce this section.
(5) Issue certification cards to electricians who have been
certified pursuant to this section. Fees collected pursuant to
paragraph (3) are continuously appropriated in an amount sufficient
to pay the costs of issuing certification cards, and that amount may
be expended for that purpose by the division.
(6) On or before July 1, 2003, establish an electrical
certification curriculum committee comprised of representatives of
the State Department of Education, the California Community Colleges,
and the division. The electrical certification curriculum committee
shall do all of the following:
(A) Establish written educational curriculum standards for
enrollees in training programs established pursuant to Section
3099.4.
(B) If an educational provider's curriculum meets the written
educational curriculum standards established in accordance with
subparagraph (A), designate that curriculum as an approved curriculum
of classroom instruction.
(C) At the committee's discretion, review the approved curriculum
of classroom instruction of any designated educational provider. The
committee may withdraw its approval of the curriculum if the
educational provider does not continue to meet the established
written educational curriculum standards.
(D) Require each designated educational provider to submit an
annual notice to the committee stating whether the educational
provider is continuing to offer the approved curriculum of classroom
instruction and whether any material changes have been made to the
curriculum since its approval.
(b) There shall be no discrimination for or against any person
based on membership or nonmembership in a union.
(c) As used in this section, "electricians" includes all persons
who engage in the connection of electrical devices for electrical
contractors licensed pursuant to Section 7058 of the Business and
Professions Code, specifically, contractors classified as electrical
contractors in the Contractors' State License Board Rules and
Regulations. This section does not apply to electrical connections
under 100 volt-amperes. This section does not apply to persons
performing work to which Section 7042.5 of the Business and
Professions Code is applicable, or to electrical work ordinarily and
customarily performed by stationary engineers. This section does not
apply to electrical work in connection with the installation,
operation, or maintenance of temporary or portable electrical
equipment performed by technicians in the theatrical, motion picture
production, television, hotel, exhibition, or trade show industries.
(d) Nothing in this section or Section 3099.2 limits the authority
and responsibilities of the Director of Industrial Relations and
California awarding bodies set forth in Article 2 (commencing with
Section 1770) of Chapter 1 of Part 7 of Division 2.
SEC. 2. Section 3099.2 of the Labor Code
is amended to read:
3099.2. (a) (1) Persons who perform work as electricians shall
become certified pursuant to Section 3099 by the deadline specified
in this subdivision. After the applicable deadline, uncertified
persons shall not perform electrical work for which certification is
required.
(2) The deadline for certification as a general electrician or
fire/life safety technician is January 1, 2006, except that persons
who applied for certification prior to January 1, 2006, have until
January 1, 2007, to pass the certification examination. The deadline
for certification as a residential electrician is January 1, 2007,
and the deadline for certification as a voice data video technician
or a nonresidential lighting technician is January 1, 2008. The
California Apprenticeship Council may extend the certification date
for any of these three categories of electricians up to January 1,
2009, if the council concludes that the existing deadline will not
provide persons sufficient time to obtain certification, enroll in an
apprenticeship or training program, or register pursuant to Section
3099.4.
(3) For purposes of any continuing education or recertification
requirement, individuals who become certified prior to the deadline
for certification shall be treated as having become certified on the
first anniversary of their certification date that falls after the
certification deadline.
(b) (1) Certification is required only for those persons who
perform work as electricians for contractors licensed as class C-10
electrical contractors under the Contractors' State License Board
Rules and Regulations. Certification is not required for persons
performing work for C-10 electrical contractors if the work
performed is incidental and supplemental work as described in Section
7059 of the Business and Professions Code. Incidental and
supplemental work includes the laying, installation, and connection
of conduit outside a building structure, trenching, handling of
materials, placement of concrete, framing, installation of brackets,
mounting systems, and support structures, placement and construction
of underground structures, compaction of trenching, clean-up work,
and other work not involving the connection of electrical devices.
(2) Certification is not required for persons performing work for
contractors licensed as class C-7 low voltage systems or class C-45
electric sign contractors as long as the work performed is within the
scope of the class C-7 or class C-45 license, including incidental
and supplemental work as defined in Section 7059 of the Business and
Professions Code, and regardless of whether the same contractor is
also licensed as a class C-10 contractor.
(3) Certification is not required for work performed by a worker
on a high-voltage electrical transmission or distribution system
owned by a local publicly owned electric utility, as defined in
Section 224.3 of the Public Utilities Code; an electrical
corporation, as defined in Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code;
a person, as defined in Section 205 of the Public Utilities Code; or
a corporation, as defined in Section 204 of the Public Utilities
Code; when the worker is employed by the utility or a licensed
contractor principally engaged in installing or maintaining
transmission or distribution systems.
(c) The division shall establish separate certifications for
general electrician, fire/life safety technician, residential
electrician, voice data video technician, and nonresidential lighting
technician.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), certification is not required
for registered apprentices performing electrical work as part of an
apprenticeship program approved under this chapter, a federal Office
of Apprenticeship program, or a state apprenticeship program
authorized by the federal Office of Apprenticeship. An apprentice who
is within one year of completion of his or her term of
apprenticeship shall be permitted to take the certification
examination and, upon passing the examination, shall be certified
immediately upon completion of the term of apprenticeship.
(e) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), certification is not required
for any person employed pursuant to Section 3099.4.
(f) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), certification is not required
for a nonresidential lighting trainee (1) who is enrolled in an
on-the-job instructional training program approved by the Chief of
the Division of Apprenticeship Standards pursuant to Section 3090,
and (2) who is under the onsite supervision of a nonresidential
lighting technician certified pursuant to Section 3099.
(g) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the qualifying person for a
class C-10 electrical contractor license issued by the Contractors'
State License Board need not also be certified pursuant to Section
3099 to perform electrical work for that licensed contractor or to
supervise an uncertified person employed by that licensed contractor
pursuant to Section 3099.4.
(h) Commencing July 1, 2009, the following shall constitute
additional grounds for disciplinary proceedings, including suspension
or revocation of the license of a class C-10 electrical contractor
pursuant to Article 7 (commencing with Section 7090) of Chapter 9 of
Division 3 of the Business and Professions Code:
(1) The contractor willfully employs one or more uncertified
persons to perform work as electricians in violation of this section.
(2) The contractor willfully fails to provide the adequate
supervision of uncertified workers required by paragraph (3) of
subdivision (a) of Section 3099.4.
(3) The contractor willfully fails to provide adequate supervision
of apprentices performing work pursuant to subdivision (d).
(i) The Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards shall
develop a process for referring cases to the Contractors' State
License Board when it has been determined that a violation of this
section has likely occurred. On or before July 1, 2009, the chief
shall prepare and execute a memorandum of understanding with the
Registrar of Contractors in furtherance of this section.
(j) Upon receipt of a referral by the Chief of the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards alleging a violation under this section, the
Registrar of Contractors shall open an investigation. Any
disciplinary action against the licensee shall be initiated within 60
days of the receipt of the referral. The Registrar of Contractors
may initiate disciplinary action against any licensee upon his or her
own investigation, the filing of any complaint, or any finding that
results from a referral from the Chief of the Division of
Apprenticeship Standards alleging a violation under this section.
Failure of the employer or employee to provide evidence of
certification or trainee status shall create a rebuttable presumption
of violation of this provision.
(k) For the purposes of this section, "electricians" has the same
meaning as the definition set forth in Section 3099.
SECTION 1. Article 1.5 (commencing with Section
49310) is added to Chapter 8 of Part 27 of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Education Code, to read:
Article 1.5. Walking Schoolbus
49310. (a) For purposes of this article, a "walking schoolbus"
means a group of pupils walking to or from school with one or more
supervising adults. For purposes of this section, "adults" include
parents, guardians, or teachers of a pupil who is participating in
the walking schoolbus.
(b) The governing board of any school district may establish and
maintain a walking schoolbus in any of the schools of the district
for the purpose of ensuring the safe passage of pupils to and from
school.
