b_electric
Member
- Location
- Nevada City, CA
- Occupation
- Certified General Electrician
Hope I'm in the correct forum here...
Curious to know what other's experiences have been with regard to electrician certification continuing education requirements outside of California (any other state).
In California, I've recently been introduced to 8 C.C.R. § 291.5(c) which mandates if a certified electrician does not complete the 32 hours CE requirement (due once every 3 years) and submit proof postmarked at least 30 days prior to the actual due date, then that electrician's certification is rendered as expired, thereby making it illegal for the electrician to work as an electrician from that moment of expiration (i.e., employed as an electrician one day, employment immediately terminated the next), and the only regulatory remedy to re-acquire certification is to re-pass the respective certification examination; in my case, the general electrician certification examination.
Does this make any sense to anyone else?
The ongoing average pass rate for the California general electrician certification exam is ~53%. In 2023, of the 4,150 attempts, the first-time pass rate for the general certification was 51.2%, with a (first time-failed) repeat pass rate of only 39.75%.
This is not an exam to be passed multiple times. All certification examinations are inherently designed to be once-in-a-lifetime examinations as there is no other instance where I, or any other certified category of electricians would ever be required to re-pass our respective certification exam, except for the nonsense found in
8 C.C.R. § 291.5(c).
This is why the exams are so difficult to pass, because the creators of these exams understand they have only one chance to be sure the examinee can operate under the most extreme conditions of the job.
I already passed the once-in-a-lifetime exam my first attempt by making the monumental once-in-a-lifetime effort to do so in 2011, at a time when it was practical for me to do so, after preparing the 6 preceding years in anticipation of doing so.
Under the immediate distress of losing my job and not being legally allowed to get another job in the only trade I’ve ever known, especially losing that level of income, it is highly unlikely that I, or anyone else under the circumstance (the guru's in here, notwithstanding), would be capable of successfully taking on such a monumental task in such a short period of time .
I'm no lawyer, but in my view, if I construe the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment correctly, its Procedural Element provides constitutional protections for all electrician certifications as our individual property interest (i.e., state requires certification to work as an electrician, and I then jumped through 6 years of the state's hoops and pass the state's exam to acquire that certification)
If this is true, then it is well-settled that there must be adequate procedural protections in the form of fair legal notice and a hearing administered prior-to my protected interest being subjected to the state agency's automatic deprivation.
I contend 8 C.C.R. § 291.5(c), in itself, is an unconstitutional test-trap, but again, I'm no lawyer, so what the hell do I know, except the fact that my mortgage is due, my child support is due, my daughter's tuition is due, utilities are due, my car payment is due, my auto insurance is not due, yet.
Any and all comments are welcome. I really need to know if this is normal in other states.
Thank you for letting me to 'oh!' this one out...
Curious to know what other's experiences have been with regard to electrician certification continuing education requirements outside of California (any other state).
In California, I've recently been introduced to 8 C.C.R. § 291.5(c) which mandates if a certified electrician does not complete the 32 hours CE requirement (due once every 3 years) and submit proof postmarked at least 30 days prior to the actual due date, then that electrician's certification is rendered as expired, thereby making it illegal for the electrician to work as an electrician from that moment of expiration (i.e., employed as an electrician one day, employment immediately terminated the next), and the only regulatory remedy to re-acquire certification is to re-pass the respective certification examination; in my case, the general electrician certification examination.
Does this make any sense to anyone else?
The ongoing average pass rate for the California general electrician certification exam is ~53%. In 2023, of the 4,150 attempts, the first-time pass rate for the general certification was 51.2%, with a (first time-failed) repeat pass rate of only 39.75%.
This is not an exam to be passed multiple times. All certification examinations are inherently designed to be once-in-a-lifetime examinations as there is no other instance where I, or any other certified category of electricians would ever be required to re-pass our respective certification exam, except for the nonsense found in
8 C.C.R. § 291.5(c).
This is why the exams are so difficult to pass, because the creators of these exams understand they have only one chance to be sure the examinee can operate under the most extreme conditions of the job.
I already passed the once-in-a-lifetime exam my first attempt by making the monumental once-in-a-lifetime effort to do so in 2011, at a time when it was practical for me to do so, after preparing the 6 preceding years in anticipation of doing so.
Under the immediate distress of losing my job and not being legally allowed to get another job in the only trade I’ve ever known, especially losing that level of income, it is highly unlikely that I, or anyone else under the circumstance (the guru's in here, notwithstanding), would be capable of successfully taking on such a monumental task in such a short period of time .
I'm no lawyer, but in my view, if I construe the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment correctly, its Procedural Element provides constitutional protections for all electrician certifications as our individual property interest (i.e., state requires certification to work as an electrician, and I then jumped through 6 years of the state's hoops and pass the state's exam to acquire that certification)
If this is true, then it is well-settled that there must be adequate procedural protections in the form of fair legal notice and a hearing administered prior-to my protected interest being subjected to the state agency's automatic deprivation.
I contend 8 C.C.R. § 291.5(c), in itself, is an unconstitutional test-trap, but again, I'm no lawyer, so what the hell do I know, except the fact that my mortgage is due, my child support is due, my daughter's tuition is due, utilities are due, my car payment is due, my auto insurance is not due, yet.
Any and all comments are welcome. I really need to know if this is normal in other states.
Thank you for letting me to 'oh!' this one out...
