SACRAMENTO, Calif. ?EUR??,,????'??? The Contractors State License Board of California is studying the possibility of eliminating the limited specialty license for tree service contractors and replacing it with a full specialty license. Tree service contractors are currently grouped with many other trades in the C-61 limited specialty classification. According to the California Landscape Contractors Association, most of the subcategories within this classification are ?EUR??,,????'??niche?EUR??,,????'?? trades with relatively few licensees. The tree service subcategory, for example, only has 1,379 licensees, and it is one of the largest subcategories. Since it wasn't practical to have a different license test for each of the subcategories, until recently the CSLB had a ?EUR??,,????'??generic?EUR??,,????'?? test for the entire C-61 classification. The CLCA believes the problem with this test is that it didn't provide a relevant measure of the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the applicants as they pertained to the specific work they wanted to do. Consequently, the state of California stopped requiring applicants for a C-61 license to take any exam at all after January 1 of this year. If the CSLB ultimately decides to establish a specialty license for tree service contractors, a new exam will probably be established that is specific to tree service work.