BILL NUMBER: AB 997INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Wagner FEBRUARY 18, 2011 An act to amend Section 6501 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to professional fiduciaries. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 997, as introduced, Wagner. Professional fiduciaries. Existing law, the Professional Fiduciaries Act, provides for the licensure and regulation of professional fiduciaries by the Professional Fiduciaries Bureau within the Department of Consumer Affairs. Existing law defines the term "professional fiduciary" and specifies those entities excluded from that term. This bill would additionally provide that any specified nonprofit corporation or charitable trust acting as a trustee incidental to the purposes for which it was organized as a trust and meeting certain requirements is not a professional fiduciary subject to the act. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 6501 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read: 6501. As used in this chapter, the following terms have the following meanings: (a) "Act" means this chapter. (b) "Bureau" means the Professional Fiduciaries Bureau within the Department of Consumer Affairs, established pursuant to Section 6510. (c) "Client" means an individual who is served by a professional fiduciary. (d) "Department" means the Department of Consumer Affairs. (e) "Licensee" means a person who is licensed under this chapter as a professional fiduciary. (f) (1) "Professional fiduciary" means a person who acts as a conservator of the person, the estate, or person and estate, or guardian of the estate, or person and estate, for two or more individuals at the same time who are not related to the professional fiduciary or to each other. (2) "Professional fiduciary" also means a person who acts as a trustee, agent under a durable power of attorney for health care, or agent under a durable power of attorney for finances, for more than three individuals, at the same time. In counting individuals under this paragraph to determine whether a person is a professional fiduciary: (A) Individuals who are related to the fiduciary shall not be counted. (B) All individuals who are related to each other shall be counted as one individual. (C) All trustors who are related to each other shall be counted as one individual, and neither the number of trusts nor the number of beneficiaries of those trusts shall be counted. (3) For purposes of this subdivision, "related" means related by blood, adoption, marriage, or registered domestic partnership. (4) "Professional fiduciary" does not include any of the following: (A) A trust company, as defined in Section 83 of the Probate Code. (B) An FDIC-insured institution, or its holding companies, subsidiaries, or affiliates. For the purposes of this subparagraph, "affiliate" means any entity that shares an ownership interest with, or that is under the common control of, the FDIC-insured institution. (C) Any public agency, including the public guardian, public conservator, or other agency of the State of California or of a county of California or any regional center for persons with developmental disabilities as defined in Section 4620 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. (D) Any nonprofit corporation or charitable trust that is described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code acting as a trustee incidental to the purposes for which it was organized as a trust and that meets at least one of the following conditions: (i) It is a trust from which annual distributions are limited to a sum certain or a fixed percentage of the net fair market value of the trust assets as described in Section 664(d) of the Internal Revenue Code governing charitable remainder trusts. (ii) It is a trust from which annual distributions are limited to a guaranteed annuity or a fixed percentage of the fair market value of the property as described in Section 2522(c)(2)(B) or Section 2055 (e)(2)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code governing charitable lead trusts. (iii) It is a trust from which annual distributions are limited to income, including a pooled income fund from which annual distributions are limited to income as described in Section 642(c)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code governing pooled income funds. (iv) It is a trust that was created prior to January 1, 1970.(D)(E) A person employed by an entity or agency described in subparagraph (A), (B),or(C) , or (D) who is acting within the course and scope of that employment, and a public officer of an agency described in subparagraph (C) acting in the course and scope of official duties.(E)(F) Any person whose sole activity as a professional fiduciary is as a broker-dealer, broker-dealer agent, investment adviser, or investment adviser representative registered and regulated under the Corporate Securities Law of 1968 (Division 1 (commencing with Section 25000) of Title 4 of the Corporations Code), the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. Sec. 80b-1 et seq.), or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. Sec. 78a et seq.), or involves serving as a trustee to a company regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. Sec. 80a-1 et seq.). (g) "Committee" means the Professional Fiduciaries Advisory Committee, as established pursuant to Section 6511.