HIGHLIGHTS OF
THE CONTRACTORS STATE LICENSE BOARD
 LICENSING COMMITTEE MEETING

Sacramento, CA
October 12, 2007
By Sam K. Abdulaziz

The Contractors’ State License Board held a Licensing Committee Meeting on Friday, October 12, 2007, in Sacramento, California, at 9:00 a.m. They started exactly at 9:00 a.m.

The Licensing Committee Members present were:

Chair, Eddie Barnes; Louise Kirkbride; and Ed Lang.

Committee Members Matt Kelly and John O’Rourke were absent.

In addition, Board Member, Cynthia Mitchell was present.

I. Licensing Program Update

The Licensing Program Update was given by Karen Ollinger.

As you will see from the information below, the Licensing Division has done a wonderful job. They have turned things around. All Board Members and some of the audience present commended Ms. Ollinger and her staff.

Some Highlights
The average number of applications received per month has gone up substantially. Yet, the time within which the work is being processed has gone down substantially. They are doing more with less. The number of applications received in a fiscal year has also gone up substantially. License transaction processing time has also gone down. The “weeks to process” which is a benchmark that is used by the CSLB, and refers to the number of weeks before an application or document is pulled for processing by a technician, is down to acceptable levels.

The Licensing Information Center’s goal is to insure that all callers receive prompt and accurate responses to their questions. During the calls, callers are quite often encouraged to make use of the CSLB’s self-service resources, such as the website and the integrated voice response system. This many times, reduces or eliminates the need for live interaction.

The work reflects that the License Information Center has continued to reduce the average call waiting time. Also, the number of abandoned calls is continuously decreasing. As a result, the number of calls received increases and the efficiency and the quality of the calls are improved.


II. Strategic Plan

This is based on the meeting that was held wherein the Board Members laid out a Strategic Plan.

This action plan has also done well, especially with respect to their target dates. Some of the objectives are as follows:

1. Hiring a consultant to conduct a business process improvement study with the objective of streamlining the transaction process of the CSLB;
2. Increase exam seating by expanding Norwalk and San Bernardino testing centers;
3. Conduct a study on a one-step, comprehensive license check system;
4. Create two dedicated bilingual licensing positions in the License Information Center;
5. Increase exam seating by expanding Fresno and San Diego testing centers (the only glitch is that the Fresno testing center has been spoken of as not being as secure as the Board would like).

III. Testing Division

This was handled by Bob Porter. The problem area is San Bernardino. The waiting time in San Bernardino will remain high until the new test center is completed. The examinee waiting time at all other test centers is three to five weeks. There are plans to increase capacity in Sacramento, Oxnard, San Jose, and Norwalk. There are safety/security issues in Fresno.

The new test administration system, SCORE, developed in-house by the testing division was successfully launched in the Sacramento test center on March 8, 2007. The feedback from everyone has been outstanding. SCORE has been successfully implemented at seven of the CSLB’s eight testing centers with only the Norwalk test center remaining.

IV. Criminal Background Fingerprinting Update

The wait time has gone from five-and-one-half months when this started, to two to three weeks. Again, a wonderful job being done by the Licensing Division.

V. Discussion of General Liability Insurance for all Contractors

This idea has bounced around for the last few years. Two bills were introduced that would have required General Liability Insurance. They never really saw the light of day. Almost the entire industry was against it. This would have required all contractors to carry General Liability Insurance.

At present, with respect to single-family homes that are to be retained by an owner for at least one year, there must be a General Liability Disclosure. That is to say, that a disclosure be made as to whether the contractor has or does not have General Liability Insurance. There was a great deal of discussion about this and probably everyone present though that it was not doable from the standpoint of getting past the Legislature.

Since it was a communication item, the Licensing Committee voted to pass this on to the appropriate committee for action.
 

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