Plumbing Inspections Ensure Compliance

Plumbing - registrants' demonstration of competency upon reinstatement - inspections. Section 1 of the act allows the state plumbing board (board) to require plumbing apprentices and plumbing contractors to demonstrate competency before reinstatement of an expired registration.

To reinstate a license or registration that has been expired for 2 or more years, a person must demonstrate competency by:

• Providing verification of a license in good standing from another state and proof of active practice in that state for the year previous to the date of receipt of the reinstatement application;
• Satisfactorily passing the state plumbing examination; or
• Any other means approved by the board.

To reinstate a license or registration that has been expired for less than 2 years (other than the first renewal or reinstatement of a license for which, as a condition of issuance, the applicant successfully completed a licensing examination), a person must have completed 8 hours of continuing education for every 12 months that have passed after the later of the last date of renewal or reinstatement.

The board is required to adopt rules establishing continuing education requirements and standards.

Section 2 requires state plumbing inspectors, an incorporated town or city, county, city and county, or qualified state institution of higher education (inspecting entity) to conduct a contemporaneous review of each plumbing project inspected to ensure compliance with the plumbing law, including specifically licensure and apprentice requirements. However, each inspecting entity need not perform a contemporaneous review for each inspection of a project. Each inspecting entity shall develop standard procedures to advise inspectors on how to conduct a contemporaneous review. Each inspecting entity must post its standard procedures on its public website and provide the director of the division of professions and occupations within the department of regulatory agencies with a link to the web page on which the standard procedures have been posted or, if the inspecting entity does not have a website, provide its current procedures to the director for posting on the board's website. The board can issue a cease-and-desist order to an inspecting entity that is conducting inspections that do not comply with statutory requirements.

Specified provisions of the act are contingent upon House Bill 19-1172 becoming law.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)