AIA Trust—Where Smart Architects Manage Risk.
The AIA Trust is a free risk management resource, offering benefit programs and practice resources for AIA Members.
CalSavers
California law requires employers of 5 or more employee to either offer their employees a retirement program, or to register with CalSavers to make this California-managed program available to their employees. The timeline requires employers of 100 or more employees to register by September 30, 2020, employers of 50 or more employees to register by June 30, 2021, and employers of 5 or more employees to register by June 30, 2022.
https://aiacalifornia.org/calsavers/
Public Works Registration with the Department of Industrial Relations
Architects must register with the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) in order to compete to provide services on a public works project. The cost of registration is $400 per year.
http://aiacalifornia.org/public-works-registration-with-the-department-of-industrial-relations/
Mechanics Lien
A mechanics’ lien is a claim against the real property on which the claimant has bestowed labor or furnished material for the value of the labor done or material furnished. Anyone who has furnished labor, services, material or equipment and has properly complied with notice requirements is entitled to file a mechanics’ lien.
http://aiacalifornia.org/mechanics-lien/
Design Professional Lien
The Design Professionals’ Lien is a claim against the real property on which the claimant has bestowed labor or furnished material for the value of the labor done or materials furnished. Unlike a mechanics’ lien, a design professionals’ lien affords licensed architects, engineers and land surveyors lien rights when no actual construction of the planned work of improvement has commenced.
http://aiacalifornia.org/design-professional-lien/
Limited Liability Partnership
With the passage of Assembly Bill 469 (Cardoza) in 1998–one the AIACC’s sponsored pieces of legislation–architects can now join accountants and lawyers in forming limited liability partnerships (LLPs). A hybrid of a corporation and a general partnership, an LLP offers its owners limited liability and pass-through income tax treatment, yet can be run without the formalities generally required of a corporation.
http://aiacalifornia.org/limited-liability-partnership/
Architects’ Practice Act
http://www.cab.ca.gov/pdf/publications/architects_practice_act_2014.pdf
Overtime Law
In the late 1990s, the California Industrial Welfare Commission overhauled the rules for calculating California employees’ entitlement to overtime.
http://aiacalifornia.org/overtime-law/
Prompt Payment
SB 1286 (Mountjoy), signed by Governor Wilson on August 10, 1995, was jointly sponsored by the American Institute of Architects, California Council (AIACC) and Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California (CELSOC) to enforce prompt payment for works of improvement. The legislation was a response to the growing trend by public owners to delay, without cause, payments to design professionals.
http://aiacalifornia.org/prompt-payment/
Certificate of Merit
The Certificate of Merit law is designed to limit frivolous lawsuits against design professionals by assisting attorneys in assessing the technical merits of a potential case, prior to filing suit. The law requires that, before filing a lawsuit against a design professional, a plaintiff’s attorney must first consult with another design professional to determine if the suit has merit.
http://aiacalifornia.org/practice-advisories/certificate-of-merit/
Statute of Limitations
A statute of limitation establishes time limits beyond which lawsuits alleging design or construction defects are barred.; Unfortunately, the California statutes overlap and may be unclear and confusing about their application to a particular set of facts.
http://aiacalifornia.org/practice-advisories/statue-of-limitations/