I agree with most of the comments above. Although they *may* be able to get away with it, even for a couple of years, it's not worth the potential legal troubles down the road. Imagine if they had success and built their brand locally, then had to switch names and start over building their reputation because of naming issues. That'd suck.

In CA (I assume CA because you mentioned Sacramento) the only way to check business name availability is to mail it into the office (ghetto, right?)...or I guess you could go in person if you're in Sacramento since that's where the office is located. After a preliminary Google search (business name + city) see if the domain is available, and then submit the state name availability search officially. That way, you know you'll be able to get a relevant domain name as well--it's always good to do them in tandem. Hope this helps.