Washington 5788 public hearing

[Harold E. Miller]

Like I said yesterday, Larry Stamp was able to attend the house meeting and was given an opportunity to testisfy. He delivered a large stack of e-mails from inspectors not only here in Washington, but from other states as well. If you listened to the audio on TVW, you can tell that the committee members also have been bombarded with communications from inspectors about this legislation. Keep up the good work guys!

BTW if you want e-mail updates from Larry I am certain he would be happy to put you on the list. Larrys' e-mail; cameohomeinspection@comcast.net

Here is Larrys' latest e-mail;

Hello,

I want to start by saying thanks to everybody for taking time to write those letters and thanks for those who were able to attend the hearing. It was clear your voices were heard as the committee chair made mention of the large number of e-mails the committee had received. This is about democracy is action and making the effort to be part of the process. We were well represented and well spoken at the meeting which only served to give more credence to your letters.

So while it is too early to start any kind of celebration, it looks like this bill will be tabled for more study and input. We should know for certain in the next few days and I will let you all know when I do.

Again, GREAT JOB!!

Thanks,

Larry


Larry Stamp AD BS RREI
Cameo Home Inspection Services
cameohomeinspection@comcast.net

[wforsyth]

Awesome!

[Steven L. Smith]

It looks like this may go through, with amendments after all. The executive committee met and this is chugging along. One rep added quite a few amendments. Everything else stays the same. I may not have all of them, and do not know all the ins and outs but the basics are:

1. Home inspectors must take and pass the WSDA exam. They may then call out WDO's on their reports, but they do not have to meet all the WSDA continuing ed requirements, instead working under the HI rules instead. I believe it would still be obligatory to call WDO issues.

2. Education is, in essence, increased. In addition to the 120 hours of classroom education, it requires another 40 hours of approved field training.

3. A national test, in addition to a state test supplement, would be the official exam. It appears that NAHI is the obvious direction here.

4. Home inspector licensing board changes to home inspectors and one member of the public.

As far as I know grandfathering stays the same, as far as requirements for being grandfathered in. And those grandfathered in would still have to take the test at renewal time. There was another technical, legal change that I found of less interest. The whole discussion is here, about six minutes in.
http://www.tvw.org/MediaPlayer/Archi...7031223&TYPE=A

[Harold E. Miller]

Here is the latest from yesterday.....


Mar 30 Executive action taken in the House Committee on Commerce & Labor at 1:30 PM.
CL - Executive action taken by committee.
CL - Majority; do pass with amendment(s).
Passed to Rules Committee for second reading

[Steven L. Smith]

Yes, saw that commerce passed it. I do not know if there is time for them to pass it into law this session but it looks like all the hoopla is pretty much over. The various groups seemed to get a compromise they could live with. The house commerce committee was the tough hurdle for the legislation and with the amendments they moved it through to rules. After the house hearing, I had expected it to stall longer than it did. But again, I do not know if it will really be enacted this year or if it comes back next year. If it is does not become law till next year, with all the time lag till implementation probably in 2009 late in the year, it should give anyone working now plenty of time to get 100 "complete" inspections under their belt and meet grandfathering requirements.

[wforsyth]

Which is good. What is the final word on the SPI requirements? How will the law apply?

As has been stated I am getting my license this week, but just wondering.

[Steven L. Smith]

Well, I have been busy and not totally up on this. But I believe that the bill still mandates that each inspection includes WDO's. And the big change is that instead of a dual license (WSDA and HI) the inspector would still have to prove he or she knew the material by taking the WSDA test. That is required to become an HI. But, once the WSDA test is passed, then the person is regulated as an HI after meeting the other HI requirements and passing that test. There are of course the grandfathering rules that mean the HI test can be taken at license renewal time. As I heard, he or she can, and must, call WDO issues but as far as continuing education and that sort of thing, the requirements only include the HI education and not WSDA. In other words, before, if each one required 20 ed credits per year, that becomes 40 which is getting pretty difficult and costly too. I believe that if you read the comments I made above, regarding changes, and realized the rest stays pretty much as written you would be close to what they are really doing in this draft. Maybe it is posted somewhere, with changes, but I have not seen it yet.

Steve

[Steven L. Smith]

http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2...5788-S.HBR.pdf

This link above will take you to the latest. Essentially, it is in sunrise until next year, far as I can figure. So it looks like we will all be going through this bickering again a year from now, although they seem to have much of it ironed out as far as grandfathering, education, etc.

Steve

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Originally Posted by ssmith

http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2...5788-S.HBR.pdf

This link above will take you to the latest. Essentially, it is in sunrise until next year, far as I can figure. So it looks like we will all be going through this bickering again a year from now, although they seem to have much of it ironed out as far as grandfathering, education, etc.

Steve

Don't think it is going to be that easy, should the licensing proponents win the work will just move to get the law repealed, there are forces stirring within the country that are beginning to demand the promised fruits of licensing, and if they are not forthcoming then many are going to seek the repeal of useless laws. Should keep us all busy, bitter and at each others throats for decades to come.

[James H. Bushart]

Originally Posted by ssmith

although they seem to have much of it ironed out as far as grandfathering, education, etc.

Much can be done in the next year to "wrinkle it" back up. You have won a significant battle. Pull it together and use the public hearings that are colled for to make the message strong: "Licensing Sloves Nothing".

Congratulations, Washington. Keep fighting the good fight. We are all encouraged and proud.

[lcapaul]

Originally Posted by ssmith

http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2...5788-S.HBR.pdf

This link above will take you to the latest. Essentially, it is in sunrise until next year, far as I can figure. So it looks like we will all be going through this bickering again a year from now, although they seem to have much of it ironed out as far as grandfathering, education, etc.

Steve

Thanks for the link Steve.

Now, or soon, is the time that if you want the Bill Passed through the Sunrise Committee, to bring in the Public, letters to the editor giving links to things like the KIRO Report, informing the public that Home Inspectors are not licensed or required to have any financial responsibility, local indicidents of HI negligence that has left buyers $thousands in debt or in costs of repairs that should have been mentioned in a HI Report,

To get the Bill passed public awareness has to be raised, like the Bill Report said, this is a Consumer Protection Issue, this is also the second year in a row that a Licensing Bill has been proposed, yet the majority of the public are still suprised when they hear that we are not licensed.

I wouldn't have minded seeing this Bill passed, it would have very little effect on me, just another fee to pay, who knows what will come next year, because another will be proposed. maybe a better one, maybe a worse one, I kind of liked the Bird in the Hand Thing.

This year maybe the advisory group will inform the few thousand other HI's in Washington about what they are doing and accept input thoughout the year instead of waiting until a Bill has been proposed to go partially public with their plans. After the Bill last year was sent off to die, who didn't think there would be another proposal this year? I still haven't figuer out why the advisory group said they were caught by suprise.

[wforsyth]

The current law on pest inspectors is confusing, has loopholes, and is vague. The requirement
to get a structural pest inspector license will be redundant. The DOA does not do anything
about people doing pest inspections who are unlicensed. The bond requirement for pest
inspectors is too low for a home inspector. No other state couples a pest inspection with a
home inspection.

From the above link.

[Brian E. Kelly]

The current law on pest inspectors is confusing, has loopholes, and is vague. The requirement
to get a structural pest inspector license will be redundant. The DOA does not do anything
about people doing pest inspections who are unlicensed. The bond requirement for pest
inspectors is too low for a home inspector. No other state couples a pest inspection with a
home inspection.

That is some funny stuff right there.

[Joseph Burkeson, CMI]

Originally Posted by jbushart

Congratulations, Washington. Keep fighting the good fight. We are all encouraged and proud.

This was a very Big Win because of all the attention paid to it by the proponents, too bad the rest of the world refused to drink the protectionist kool-aid and see it their way. Looks like the licensing jockeys will need to find another way to limit competition in Washington. Now that Washington is over the proponents have time to concentrate on other unlicensed states like Florida, looking forward to the chaos they might bring and hoping for the same outcome that they were so proficient at in Washington.

[Harold E. Miller]

Originally Posted by ssmith

http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2...5788-S.HBR.pdf

This link above will take you to the latest. Essentially, it is in sunrise until next year, far as I can figure. So it looks like we will all be going through this bickering again a year from now, although they seem to have much of it ironed out as far as grandfathering, education, etc.

Steve

Thanks for the link Steve. I am actually pretty happy about the present outcome. I am never crazy about more government control in my life.

I wonder how this will do in Sunrise Comittee because as I understand there has to be sufficient proof that such legislation would protect the consumer.

The attorney who testified at the House Committee hearing hit the nail on the head when he said that there is no way the public would have that consumer protection. One of his statements was that our contracts, which limit liability to the cost of the inspection, make it difficult to win a case against an inspector.

Individuals who signed up pro and con all testified that changes had to be made. I am glad that the representatives listened.