Bureau of Security and Investigative Services: private investigators: client service agreements.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not specify what happens if a client does not know which language they prefer or when the law will officially start being enforced.

Private Investigators Must Provide Agreements in Client's Preferred Language

This law requires private investigators to give clients copies of service agreements and any changes to those agreements in a language the client understands if they primarily speak another language besides English.

What This Bill Does

• Requires private investigators to provide initial client service agreements and any amendments, addendums, or modifications to these agreements in the preferred language of the client if the client primarily speaks a language other than English.

Who It Names or Affects

• Private investigators who work in California.
• Clients of private investigators who primarily speak a language other than English.

Terms To Know

Client service agreement

A written contract between a private investigator and their client that outlines the services to be provided, fees, and terms of the investigation.

Licensee

A person or company who has been given permission by the government to provide certain professional services, in this case, private investigation.

Limits and Unknowns

• Does not specify what happens if a client does not know which language they prefer.
• The bill does not change other parts of how private investigators are regulated or licensed.
• It is unclear when the law will officially start being enforced.

Official Summary Text

AB 2485, as amended,
Macedo
Ahrens.
Bureau of Security and Investigative Services:
private investigators:
client service agreements.
Existing law establishes the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, under the direction of the Director of Consumer Affairs, within the Department of Consumer Affairs for the purpose of regulating, among other things, private investigators.
Existing law, the Private Investigator Act, requires the director to administer and enforce its provisions relating to the licensure and regulation of private investigators, and imposes certain duties on the bureau in this regard. Existing law makes a violation of the act, as specified, a crime. Existing law requires an agreement to provide services pursuant to those provisions to, among other things, be in writing. Existing law requires the initial client service agreement and any amendment, addendum, or other modification to the agreement to be legible and clearly indicate any other document
incorporated into it.
This bill would require a licensee to provide a copy of the initial client service agreement and any amendment, addendum, or other modification to the agreement in the preferred language of the client if the client primarily speaks a language other than English. The bill would specify that a violation of that provision is not a crime under the act.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF