AB 17

Under current law, effective January 1, 2015, no person may conduct, maintain,

manage or operate a restaurant unless the operator or at least one manager of the

restaurant holds a valid certificate of food protection practices (FPP certificate)

issued by the Department of Health Services (DHS) or, in certain cases, a local health

department. Under current law, again effective January 1, 2015, DHS may issue an

FPP certificate to an individual who satisfactorily completes an approved

examination or who has achieved comparable compliance. Certificates are valid for

five years, and under current law, a certificate holder may renew the FPP certificate

by satisfactorily completing an approved examination.

This bill creates an exception to the examination requirement for renewal of an

FPP certificate. If a certificate holder operates or manages a restaurant employing

five or fewer food handlers, the certificate holder has the option to renew by

satisfactorily completing a recertification training course approved by DHS instead

of an approved examination. The bill has a retroactive effective date of January 1,

2015, and provides that DHS must approve renewal applications for those certificate

holders operating or managing a restaurant employing five or fewer food handlers

that submitted renewal applications after January 1, 2015, and have been denied

renewal on the basis that they completed an approved recertification training course

instead of an approved examination.