from Sam Abdulaziz, Attorney At Law
The Legislative session is finally over. The Governor had until September 30, 2010, to either veto or sign hundreds of legislative bills. Following are a few of the interesting ones with respect to the construction industry.
With the passage of SB 392, the CSLB is now authorized to issue a contractor’s license to a limited liability company. The LLC licensees will have many, if not more, of the same requirements that other licensees have. Hopefully the CSLB will not get too backlogged with an overflow of new license applications for LLC’s.
SB 189 has passed and brings to an end the decade long review of the Mechanic’s Lien process by the California Law Revision Commission. This will renumber and recast every statute pertaining to Mechanic’s Liens, Stop Notices, and payment bonds, among other statutes relating to recovery by contractors. Those changes do not become effective until July 1, 2012 and once effective, all of the references to specific statutes that pertain to the enforcement of Mechanic’s Liens, Stop Notices and payment bonds will be obsolete. While most of the changes in SB 189 are not substantive (they do not change the substance of most of the statues) the law will be contained in different statutes and the current references will not be correct.
SB 1254 dealing with workers’ compensation authorizes the Registrar of Contractors to issue a Stop Work Order to any licensee or unlicensed contractor who, as an employer, has failed to secure workers’ compensation insurance coverage for his or her employees and makes a failure to comply with the order a misdemeanor. It also sets forth procedures for the payment of employees pursuant to issuance of a Stop Work Order, and allows an employer to request a hearing to protest a Stop Work Order. Lastly, it would authorize an increase in the number of CSLB peace officer positions from three to 12.
There are also legislative bills that were vetoed and one warrants special attention. AB 2419, that made it through both arms of the Legislature and found itself on the Governor’s desk. Following is the Governor’s veto message:
To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning AB 2419 without my signature.
This bill removes the apostrophe in the specified references in Contractors’ State License Law.
• Number of legislative committees that took time hearing this bill: 3
• Number of pages in this bill needed to remove an apostrophe: 184
• Taxpayer dollars used to pass this bill through the Legislature: $ thousands and thousands
• The outrage the public should have that the Legislature is spending its time “working” on bills like this instead of focusing on California’s real problems: PRICELESS.
Sincerely,
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
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Attorney Sam Abdulaziz of Abdulaziz, Grossbart & Rudman has been practicing construction law for over 30 years. He has written a book called “California Construction Law” which is updated annually. Sam Abdulaziz can be reached at Abdulaziz, Grossbart & Rudman, P.O. Box 15458, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5458; (818) 760-2000, Facsimile (818) 760-3908; or by E-Mail at info@agrlaw.net . On the Internet, visit our Website at www.agrlaw.net.
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