(a) The department shall issue a license certificate to each traffic violator school owner and each traffic violator school operator licensed pursuant to this chapter. The term of the license shall be for a period of one year from the date of issue unless canceled, suspended, or revoked by the department. The license shall be renewed annually. The department shall require compliance with Section 11202 for renewal of the license of a traffic violator school owner. The department shall require compliance with Section 11202.5 for renewal of the license of a traffic violator school operator.

(b) (1) In lieu of the examination required by Section 11202.5 for renewal of the license of a traffic violator school operator, the department may accept submission of evidence by the licensee of continuing professional education.

(2) “Professional education,” as used in paragraph (1), means the satisfactory completion of courses acceptable to the department related to traffic safety, teaching techniques, or the teaching of driver instruction, or the participation in professional seminars approved by the department.

(c) Whenever in its judgment the public interest so requires, the department may issue a probationary license subject to special conditions to be observed by the licensee in the conduct of the traffic violator school. The conditions to be attached to the license shall be any that may, in the judgment of the department, be in the public interest and suitable to the qualifications of the applicant as disclosed by the application and investigation by the department of the information contained therein. The conditions may not appear on the license certificate.

(d) Upon notification of the death of a traffic violator school licensee, the department may issue a temporary license to the executor or administrator of the estate of a deceased holder of a validly outstanding license to conduct a traffic violator school, or if no executor or administrator has been appointed and until a certified copy of an order making an appointment is filed with the department, a temporary license may be issued to the surviving spouse or other heir entitled to conduct the business of the deceased. The temporary license shall permit the holder to conduct the traffic violator school for a period of one year from and after the date of the original licensee’s death, and necessary one-year extensions may be granted to permit disposal of the business and qualification for a license of a purchaser of the business or the surviving spouse or heir. The department may restrict or condition a temporary license and attach to the exercise of the privilege thereunder any terms and conditions that in the department’s judgment are required for the protection of the public.

(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 594, Sec. 33. Effective January 1, 2004.)