Questions, I get them, and always assist in finding the answers reader’s need. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to be a resource for attorneys, contractors, and industry professionals. Let us ‘merge’ into our first inquiry…
Q: We have a licensing question in relation to a Company merger we will be undergoing soon. We have a company which will be merging into its Parent Company. Both entities hold a California contractors license. Our attorney informed us of B&P Code Section 7075.1c(1) which allows for the transfer of the license number for this type of situation. Our attorney also recommended that we contact you to go over the specifics and what is required to be submitted to the CSLB to make the license go smoothly.
A: The license transfer from the subsidiary to the Parent is not going to work for this situation unfortunately. The issue here is that the resulting entity is already licensed. B&P Code 7075.1c(1) allows for a license number to be re-issued “to a corporation when the parent corporation has merged or created a subsidiary, the subsidiary has merged into the parent company…and the new entity is being formed to continue the business of the formerly licensed corporation.”
Because the new entity in your case is an existing entity already doing business as a licensed contractor in California. So, they cannot re-issue the existing license to a Company that already has a license.
Q: We are interested in getting licensed in Nevada and possibly moving our business there. We want to apply for the license endorsement based on our CA license, but the entity we will be operating under in Nevada is not the same as the company we operate under in CA. Does the state honor reciprocity for two different entities?
A: Nevada license endorsement allows for a waiver of the trade exam if the qualifying individual has been actively licensed for the previous four years, it doesn’t follow the company.
Q: I need some help with a pending license application. The CSLB rejected our business name and said we need to come up with a ‘dba’ name. We had our outside counsel attempt to file the ‘doing busine as’ name we chose with the CA Secretary of State, and the SOS is telling us we cannot file a dba name with them. Help!
A: I understand your confusion. CSLB needs you to add a dba name to your license only. The dba name will not be reflected on your CA SOS filing. The SOS only allows for you to use a dba name if your original business name is not available for use.
For the CSLB, you will just add the dba to the end of your business name and it will be reflected on the license as “Business name as registered with the SOS dba name you’ve chosen which meets CSLB requirements.”