COMMITTEE REPORT: Legislative Committee By Chairwoman, Laurie Crigler
CEU’S & HB1645
P
MPV/VAPHCC and several other wonderful organizations (VPMIA & VBCOA, to name just a couple) have been concentrating their efforts for the past few months on maintaining the continuing education program that currently exists. Unless you have had your head in the sand, and you have not paid attention to all the e-mails, legislative alerts and requests by these organizations to submit testimony, you know this has been a battle. To refresh your memory…there is a potential regulatory change. The “Proposed Regulatory Change” will eliminate the CEU programs for all trades except “water-well drillers” and “elevator mechanics” (and that is because their CEU’s were written into the law when they got their licensing passed by the General Assembly a couple of years ago). What has transpired over the past few months is worthy of many adjectives…frustrating, awe-inspiring, educational, heart-warming (and a few others that I will not use). Never before have I seen the industry rally around an issue….not just contractors…. but inspectors, code officials, past DPOR board members, fire officials, well-drillers, elevator mechanics, tradesmen, builders, educational providers, community college professionals, lawyers, association managers and MANY others. They all took time out of their busy lives to express their thoughts in person, at hearings, and in writing to the DPOR Board about how they feel and the potential ramifications of the possible elimination of the continuing education program for Tradesmen. I am forever grateful to those who have done this, regardless of their “side” in the issue. It makes me feel good that there are so many out there who really do care. At the October Tradesmen Committee meeting (and subsequently at the full Board meeting the next day) it was announced that after three public hearings (and the Northern Virginia and Bristol hearings were still to follow) over 700 pages of testimony resulted from all of the above professionals that the full Board will have to read and condense in order to vote in December. In addition, the Board will be dealing with HB1645 and the gubernatorial request to “evaluate continuing education requirements for tradesmen including curriculum standards, corresponding updates to the Uniform Statewide Building Code, effectiveness in protecting the public, and the cost to [ 8 ] IMAGE | Winter 2013
regulants, and initiate regulatory action to reduce any unnecessary burdens”. These two issues are going hand-in-hand and much of the testimony has presented ideas to the Board to help them evaluate continuing education per the Governor’s request. Several of the alternatives the Board will “ponder” and “evaluate” are as follows: 1. Tradesmen license renewal every 3 years to coincide with the code cycle. 2. Requiring a ‘licensed tradesman” on every job 3. Discontinue the CEU program and require an exam for renewal (without taking a class) 4. Form a committee to review all of these to make sound proposals (or host a workshop) 5. Leave it alone Each of these suggestions has a preponderance of pros and cons and it will be interesting to see how our regulatory board (Board for Contractors) approaches these. If you have thoughts on any of these, please feel free to contact Eric Olson at DPOR and give him your thoughts. The next Tradesmen Committee meeting and Board for Contractors meeting are scheduled for Dec. 16/17 at 2pm and 9am, respectively. It would behoove you to attend and see the workings of our regulatory board and find out what they have ultimately decided our fate to be. I will report, in the next issue, the outcome of that decision. In the meantime, I want to express my thanks to ALL of you who wrote, called, testified and e-mailed about this issue (regardless if it was pro or con). I am impressed and grateful to see the outpouring from the industry. THANKS, THANKS, THANKS, THANKS, THANKS, AND MORE THANKS!!!!!!! Remember to join PMPV/VAPHCC, a professional organization which looks out for the public AND the industry and be part of the solution! Laurie C. Crigler Legislative Chair, PMPV 540-948-6230 (Office) 540-718-3000 (Cell) lcc@ldassociatesinc.com