Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of various professions and vocations by boards within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law authorizes any licensee whose license expired while he or she was on active duty as a member of the California National Guard or the United States Armed Forces to reinstate his or her license without examination or penalty if certain requirements are met. Existing law also requires the boards to waive the renewal fees, continuing education requirements, and other renewal requirements, if applicable, of any licensee or registrant called to active duty as a member of the United States Armed Forces or the California National Guard, if certain requirements are met. Existing law requires each board to inquire in every application if the individual applying for licensure is serving in, or has previously served in, the military. Existing law, on and after July 1, 2016, requires a board within the Department of Consumer Affairs to expedite, and authorizes a board to assist, the initial licensure process for an applicant who has served as an active duty member of the United States Armed Forces and was honorably discharged.

This bill, on and after January 1, 2018, would require every board within the Department of Consumer Affairs to grant a fee waiver for the application for and the issuance of an initial license to an individual who is an honorably discharged veteran. an applicant who supplies satisfactory evidence, as defined, to the board that the applicant has served as an active duty member of the California National Guard or the United States Armed Forces and was honorably discharged. The bill would require that a veteran be granted only one fee waiver, except as specified.