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Boards and Commissions Review Some of these boards are highly paid, earning salaries of more than $100,000 a year for attending a monthly meeting. Other boards and commissions are composed of appointed volunteer members who may only earn travel reimbursements. These boards and commissions often have permanent staff, pay rent, and/or create other costs for the State, which is usually paid by annual license renewal fees associated with a particular board or commission. The goal of the State is to have boards, commissions and committees comprised of “experts” who would supposedly apply their expertise in a neutral fashion, influenced only by what worked and what was right to protect the State consumers. Licensing boards, commissions or committees are established to protect the health, safety and welfare of the State consumers from questionable practitioners. These boards, commissions or committees were not established to promote a profession, but to regulate it. All boards, commissions and committees within the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) are subject to a regular sunset review by legislation approved in the early 1990s. The State has formed the Joint Legislative Sunset Review Committee to analyze the need for boards, commissions and committees under its mandate. The goal is to ensure that boards, commissions and committees perform their function of protecting State consumers and spend its funds efficiently, effectively and in the public’s interest. Fulltime staff supports the Joint Legislative Sunset Review Committee. The review effort involves over 100 State employees from the staff of the various boards, commissions and committees being reviewed each year. Renewal fees fund most of these employees associated with licensing programs. The Joint Legislative Sunset Review Committee (Committee) will resume “Sunset Review” and Sunset Review hearings for the following boards and committees in 2011. The first hearing is tentatively scheduled for March 21, 2011. The previous Chair of the Committee requested a report on each board or committee be submitted to the Committee by October 1, 2010. The first part of the report provides an overview of the board or committee’s current regulatory program, and the second part of the report responds to particular issues that were raised by the Committee during the prior reviews, or raised by the individual board or committee. The LATC has done a great job in preparing a draft report, which the CC/ASLA Board has reviewed on behalf of our profession. Committee staff will be investigating and analyzing the provided information and preparing a background paper with issues to be addressed including preliminary recommendations regarding continuation of a board or committee. Public hearings in February will allow the Committee to vent additional questions and concerns regarding a board, commission or committee. After the public hearings information will be forwarded to DCA for review and provide its recommendations which will be presented in early spring of 2011. The Committee will then meet and vote upon recommendations, which will be forward to the full Senate and Assembly as a bill. If both Houses approve a bill, then it would be forwarded to Governor Brown for his signature. If the final outcome is that LATC does not continue as the committee to oversee the profession of landscape architecture, then this oversight would fall back to DCA, as it did when the Board of Landscape Architects was terminated in 1996. The profession itself should not be question, just the current oversight board or committee, which regulates the profession. The CC/ASLA Board and your Chapter Board will keep you informed as the Sunset procedure moves forward in the review process. Letters from your clients supporting the profession and LATC would be helpful. Please submit such letters to CC/ASLA Board at P.O. Box 81521, San Diego, CA 92138-1521 or e-mail to ccasla@sbcglobal.net. The State licensure law for landscape architects was enacted in California in 1953. The State law was both a title and practice act, which was overseen by the Board of Landscape Architects. Under the licensure law, landscape architects can perform design work for the human enjoyment of nature and outdoor spaces. In 1996, the sunset review process was contentious and resulted in the loss of the Landscape Architects Board; there was a clear danger at that time of losing licensure altogether. The licensing function in 1996 fell to the Secretary of DCA. Through negotiation efforts of our Legislative Advocate, Terri Thomas; the LATC was formed under the California Architects Board (CAB) to regulate the profession of landscape architecture. In 2002/2003, LATC was subject to its first sunset review process. This will be the second sunset review process for LATC conducted by the State.
DOJ Adopts Revisions To ADA Title II And III, Issues 2010 Standards By the National Center of Accessibility Long awaited, the U.S. Department of Justice has adopted revisions to Title II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The amended regulations were published in the Federal Register on Sept. 15, 2010. |
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