CLCA San Francisco Bay Area Chapter

Mission Statement
CLCA serves and protects the interests of its members, promotes professionalism, and advances public awareness of the landscape industry.

History of the Unicensed Operator Task Force

Efforts to curtail the illegal activities of those performing the work of the landscape contractor date back to CLCA's pioneering days. Former president Keith Card remembers the association's second meeting held over a half-century ago in Southern California. At the top of the agenda: setting up the new organization, discussing what needed to be done to promote the landscape contractor's business, and developing a plan to deal with illegal operators.

"In those days there was a large non-licensed contractor [base] participating in our business, and we needed an organization to combat that," Card recalls. "There were a lot of cutthroat types of things going around. We wanted to have the business run on an up and up scale, and I think we did a pretty good job of that."

In the matter of the unlicensed operator, CLCA focused on building relationships with elected officials and regulators to define rules and laws that would make it more difficult to conduct business illegally in California. The association sponsored a bill in 1957 to make it a misdemeanor for any person to advertise as a contractor who didn't hold a valid license, and in the '60s worked with the California State License Board on a public awareness campaign encouraging people to report unlawful operators to the state. CLCA's work on the issue continues to this day.

CLCA had worked extensively for decades with the legislature and the Contractors State License Board to address the problem of the unlicensed landscape operator, who, according to CSLB statistics at the time, was the target of 45 percent of consumer complaints - the highest of all construction industries. The association pushed for greater enforcement of the law, and created the Coalition Against Unlicensed Contractors in 1994.

CLCA went on to support legislation and sponsor amendments to several bills that improved enforcement and increased penalties for unlicensed work, and supplied contractors with information and forms to report unlicensed activity. In 1996 the state added $1.4 million for more enforcement and to provide new consumer education programs. And in 2001, Assembly Bill 678 changed the law to allow consumers to recover payments made to unlicensed operators, regardless of whether the work was performed satisfactorily.

Thanks to these combined efforts, today the unlicensed operator faces an unfriendly market in California. But the association has taken the matter a step further toward resolution. In April 2001 CLCA President Jeffrey Sheehan unveiled "Operation Helping Hand," the association's program to help unlicensed operators become legal. This positive approach augments CLCA's ongoing efforts by appealing to the sensibilities and benefits of licensing, and offering to assist in the process.

Looking at our history, it is clear that CLCA had a hand in creating what is today the Statewide Investigative Fraud Team (S.W.I.F.T), the enforcement arm of the Contactors State License Board.

MORE RECENTLY:

In early 2005, Erik Wolting proposed that the San Luis Obispo chapter support a S.W.I.F.T. sting operation by providing a house for the CSLB agents to invite unlicensed and illegal operators to bid on work. The Cutting Edge story reported "Nearly three dozen unlicensed operators stung with the help of CLCA Chapter." After reading the story, Kevin Burns began looking into the problem and convinced the SFBA Chapter to organize the Unlicensed Operator Task Force (UOTF) to look into ways that CLCA might help combat the negative effects these unlicensed operators have on our industry.

The SFBA chapter UOTF held their first meeting September 15, 2004 and invited Ricardo Lopez, Supervisor of the northern branch of S.W.I.F.T., who provided ideas on how we might best help CSLB in their enforcement efforts. Further research into the problems revealed that while continued support of enforcement is important, it is probably not the direction UOTF wants to focus on. CLCA already has "Operation Helping Hand" in place. CSLB already has S.W.I.F.T. Governor Schwarzenneger, in an attempt to capture some of the revenues lost to the underground economy, estimated at $60 to $140 billion dollars each year, approved the 2005-06 state budget which provides $5.5 million and additional enforcement and audit positions to investigate businesses operating in the underground economy. We must remember however, that unlicensed operators, while a nuisance, are not exactly a high priority crime. The best enforcement efforts are limited by the numbers of cases any given jurisdiction can prosecute.

TODAY:

The CLCA Board of Directors has approved a small budget to organize a statewide UOTF. Our first meeting will be held at state headquarters on Thursday, December 7th. We hope to determine what we will focus our efforts on. Initially, we will be contacting all CLCA chapters, encouraging them to poll their members to find out how each chapter perceives the unlicensed operator problem affects them.

The SFBA Chapter has sent letters to the Mayor, Chief Building Official and Code Enforcement Officer of every Town and City within their geographic region explaining the problems associated with unlicensed and illegal activities of contractors. We included a questionnaire asking if they experience many problems and whether or not they do anything about it. We also asked if we could provide CLCA and CSLB literature in the offices where homeowners would go for permits. The reply was dismal at best. But we've barely made a start. If enough members help by asking permission to provide public education, we may get permission to display our literature.

UOTF ACTIVITIES THAT MAY PROVE HELPFUL:

ENFORCEMENT: Co-operation with S.W.I.F.T. Encourage members to carry Hot Lead Referral forms.

OPERATION HELPING HAND: Encourage members to carry brochures and offer them to unlicensed operators.

PUBLIC OUTREACH: Contact Towns and Cities and get CLCA and CSLB literature on permit office counters.

EDUCATION: Educate homeowners, un-insured workers, etc.

PUBLIC RELATIONS: Video displays at home and garden shows.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Encourage members to pursue professional development already available through CLCA.

For more information, contact Kevin Burns (650) 343-0011.