The California Board of Occupational Therapy has proposed modifications to the text of Title 16, California Code of Regulations, section 4170, which are the Ethical Standards of Practice of Occupational Therapy. The proposed modifications include a number of gramatical changes and clean-up of the regulation. However, it also contains substantive changes. Specifically: Read more…
Our office speaks to many licensees after they have been arrested – these arrests can range from driving under the influence, domestic violence, drug possession, assault, and even manslaughter. Often, licensees ask us how their boards or agencies knew about their arrests before he or she even reported it. For Read more…
Our law firm works with professional licensees on a regular basis. Many of these individuals are independent, hard-working individuals, with usually barely enough time to handle their personal lives, let alone to administer or organize their profession as a going concern. This lack of time is often a direct cause Read more…
Code of Civil Procedure §1094.5(c) establishes the two basic tests for determining whether the evidence supports the findings in an administrative writ of mandate proceeding: If authorized by law to exercise its independent judgment on the evidence, the court determines whether the findings are supported by the weight of the Read more…
California voters have passed Proposition 47, a law that will reduce simple drug possession and some property crimes to misdemeanors, with 59 percent of the vote, according to statewide ballot returns. That means, effectively immediately, California joins about a dozen other states across the country with misdemeanor drug possession laws. The Read more…
On September 28, 2014, Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 2396, which provides that an individual with an expunged conviction cannot be denied a license solely because of the expunged conviction, notwithstanding any other law in the Business and Professions Code. This new law gives relief to applicants applying to certain Read more…
If you are arrested in California for driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% with an out-of-state driver's license, your driver's license will not be immediately confiscated. However, you will be notified that your driving privileges in the state of California will be suspended in thirty (30) days. Wow, just reading Read more…
On November 14, 2014, Steven L. Simas, owner and founder of Simas & Associates, Ltd., will be serving as one of several presenters for Administrative Writs of Mandamus: What You Need to Know. This day-long seminar is being co-hosted by Pincus Professional Education and the Sacramento County Bar Association Administrative Read more…
Recently, our law firm has received a large influx of inquiries for service from registered nurses and physical therapists. The cause for this influx appears to be an abrupt change in the way the Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) and the Physical Therapy Board (PTB) are treating first-time, driving under Read more…
STAR Certification On January 1, 2013, the Bureau of Automotive Repair (“BAR”) replaced its former “Gold Shield” program with STAR certification. The STAR program is the Bureau’s certification program that applies to a Registered Automotive Repair Dealer that is also a licensed smog check test-and-repair station or a test-only station Read more…