Wisconsin Law Changes

[iaov]

Went to a meeting tonight on changes to Wi law regarding electrical work. Basicly the state wants to require all electrical work be done by qualified persons. A very good idea indeed but I think they do not have any idea how they will enforce it. All electrical work after 1 April 2013 will require the supervision of a Master electrician. It looks to me like a Master will be able to work for however many companies he wants??:-? I'm wondering how this works around the rest of the country. My guess is that we in the Northland are a bit behind the times.

 

[wbalsam1]

Hopefully your new law when in effect will have some "teeth" in it. There is nothing more frustrating as a good law with no oversight. When the law is enacted it should have an enforcement arm created right with it.

In New York there is virtually no oversight of building officials in many of the smaller towns and villages. The officials are charged by law with signing off on the required certificate of occupancy and they frequently trust private 3rd-party electrical inspectors to file reports evidencing compliance with the NEC when in actuality nothing could be farther from the truth.

The inspection agencies compete for the inspection dollar $$$$$ and pasting "OK" stickers on violations is rampant.

To date, New York does not have a state-wide contractor or inspector licensing law. I would certainly support any reasonable move toward an inspector licensing law, that's for sure.

 

[ptonsparky]

Good luck with this endeavor. As much as I would like to see better enforcement and no "driveby inspections" allowed in NE, we just do not have the person power and I don't see a 10 fold increase of Inspectors in the cards.

 

[ptonsparky]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]It is a Class I misdemeanor with a penalty of one year in prison and $1,000 fine to work in the State of Nebraska without a proper license. [/FONT]

I don't think this has ever been applied.

 

[iaov]

Thanx for the replys guys. The speaker said how the plumbers turn other plumbers in. I think they want us to "self police". I think too that as long as anybody can walk into a big box store and buy anything our new law is not going to change much of anything here. Where I live it is extremely rural. More people live out in the country than do in the towns. About the only way to enforce things is if POCO won't do dis and re-connects without a certified electrician being involved. In the towns thats how it is but out n the country anyone can play electrician now.

 

[mlp425]

Michigan requires every contractor to employ full time at least one "Qualifying Master" to verify code compliance. The state also requires the master to only represent one contractor.
A "Qualifying Master" or "Master of Record" signature is required on the applications for journeyman exams, master exams, and annual apprenticeship registration verifing the applicant has worked under the supervision of a master electrician, subsequent to initial journeyman license issuance.
Also, every corporation that has "in house electricians" that actively performs electrical work must employ full time a master electrician to verify code compliance.

 

[cowboyjwc]

I haven't checked to see if it's still true, but CA law used to be that the license holder had to be on site if work was being done, but how often do you think that really happens. Doesn't do much good for the Contractors State License Board Enforcement people to show up and check licenses when the only people on site are a bunch of workers.

 

[A/A Fuel GTX]

As a caveat.......WI has decided not to require TR recepts and arc faults are not required till Jan 2010. Glad to see the licensing requirement though. There are a lot of hacks out there. Should open up some inspector jobs too.