LBExam

Bulletin

Contractor citation fines from July 1, 2026

CSLB's fine table in 16 CCR s. 884 changed on July 1, 2026 to match SB 779 and SB 291: a $500 floor on most citations and $1,500 for unlicensed work.

Published
2026-09-06
Takes effect
2026-07-01

The fine table the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) uses when it cites a contractor changed on July 1, 2026. The table lives in 16 CCR s. 884, one row per section of the license law, each with a minimum and a maximum civil penalty. The Office of Administrative Law (OAL) approved the new rows on June 9, 2026 as a change without regulatory effect, and CSLB’s laws and regulations page posts the approval notice and the final language. OAL filed it as a nonsubstantive change, its notice says, because the regulation was only being brought into line with two statutes the legislature had already passed.

The two statutes behind it

Both are 2025 bills, and both wrote dollar amounts straight into the Business and Professions Code.

Senate Bill 779 (Archuleta), Chapter 233 of the Statutes of 2025, rewrote Bus. & Prof. Code s. 7028.7, the citation section for contracting without a license. From July 1, 2026, every citation under it carries an order of abatement and a civil penalty of not less than $1,500 and not more than $15,000. Before that date the s. 884 table set the floor for that section at $200.

Senate Bill 291 (Grayson), Chapter 455 of the Statutes of 2025, rewrote s. 7099.2, which governs citations against licensees. From July 1, 2026, subdivision (b)(1) sets the general range at not less than $500 and not more than $8,000, and a separate range of not less than $1,500 and not more than $30,000 for a violation of s. 7110 (willful disregard of the building, safety, labor or workers’ compensation laws), s. 7114 (aiding or abetting an unlicensed person) or s. 7118 (contracting with an unlicensed contractor). Both sections let the board adjust their minimum civil penalties for inflation every five years, and each rounds the increase its own way. Under s. 7099.2(b)(2) the increase is rounded in multiples of $100 for penalties greater than $100 but not more than $1,000, and in multiples of $1,000 for penalties greater than $1,000. Under s. 7028.7(f) there is one tier: multiples of $100 for penalties greater than $100.

SB 291 also amended s. 7125.4, effective January 1, 2026. A sole owner who employs workers without workers’ compensation coverage faces a minimum civil penalty of $10,000 per violation; a partnership, corporation, limited liability company or tribal business faces $20,000; a repeat violation can add up to a total of $30,000 per occurrence.

What the table looks like now

Section 884 has to follow the statute, so the change is a Section 100 filing rather than a rulemaking: the registrar signed the new text on April 23, 2026, OAL approved it on June 9, and it took effect on July 1. Read against the version printed in the CSLB Law Book 2026, the rows moved like this (final approved language):

Section violatedOld rangeRange from July 1, 2026
Most sections in the table$100 or $200 minimum, ceilings from $500 to $8,000$500 to $8,000
7028.7, unlicensed contracting$200 to $15,000$1,500 to $15,000
7110, disregard of building and safety laws$200 to $30,000$1,500 to $30,000
7114, aiding an unlicensed person$500 to $30,000$1,500 to $30,000
7118, contracting with an unlicensed contractor$500 to $30,000$1,500 to $30,000
7125.4, workers’ compensation$200 to $30,000$10,000 to $30,000

Two things stand out in the full table. Every maximum that used to sit below $8,000 (the old $500, $1,000, $1,500, $2,000 and $2,500 ceilings on sections such as 7030, 7159 and 7164) now reads $8,000, with s. 7031.5 the one row that keeps a $500 ceiling. And a few minimums went down to meet the new floor: s. 7028.1 and ss. 7118.5 and 7118.6 used to start at $1,000, and s. 7118.4 at $3,000, and all four now start at $500.

The rest of the section is unchanged. Subdivision (b) still lists the circumstances the registrar weighs when setting an amount: multiple violations, a history of the same violations, bad faith, a serious or harmful violation, a victim who is a senior citizen or disabled, and work on repairs after a natural disaster. Subdivision (c) still caps a single citation that lists several violations on one project at $8,000, or $15,000 for s. 7028.7, or $30,000 for ss. 7110, 7114, 7118 and 7125.4. Subdivision (d) still requires the penalty to be stated separately for each section violated.

CSLB’s Summer 2026 newsletter, page 7, summarizes it in one line: any violation of the license law now results in a fine of no less than $500.

The printed Law Book is behind the statute

The 2026 edition of the California Contractors License Law and Reference Book was printed before July 1, so its reprint of s. 884 carries the old table. The statute sections the table rests on already read the new way on leginfo, and s. 7028.7 says on its face that it became operative on July 1, 2026.

The exam is being rewritten this year (the September 2026 board packet puts it in item bank development). From July 1, 2026 the penalty range for contracting without a license is $1,500 to $15,000, the general range for a citation against a licensee is $500 to $8,000, and the three sections named above carry $1,500 to $30,000. A paper written against the old table would put the unlicensed range at $200 to $15,000, and both figures were correct in the same calendar year, so learn the dates with the amounts.

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