SENATE BILL REPORT
SSB 6409
This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent. |
As Passed Senate, February 12, 2020
Title: An act relating to providing an exemption from electrical licensing, certification, and inspection for industrial equipment.
Brief Description: Providing an exemption from electrical licensing, certification, and inspection for industrial equipment.
Sponsors: Senate Committee on Labor & Commerce (originally sponsored by Senator King).
Brief History:
Committee Activity: Labor & Commerce: 1/30/20, 2/04/20 [DPS].
Floor Activity:
Passed Senate: 2/12/20, 46-0.
Brief Summary of First Substitute Bill |
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SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR & COMMERCE |
Majority Report: That Substitute Senate Bill No. 6409 be substituted therefor, and the substitute bill do pass.
Signed by Senators Keiser, Chair; Conway, Vice Chair; King, Ranking Member; Braun, Saldaña, Schoesler, Stanford, Walsh and Wellman.
Staff: Jarrett Sacks (786-7448)
Background: All wires, equipment, and installations that convey electric current must conform with the electrical laws of the state, which are administered by the Department of Labor and Industries (L&I). Electrical installations must comply with the National Electrical Code. An electrical contractor license is required to engage in the business of installing or maintaining wires or equipment to convey electric current, or equipment to be operated by electric current, and a certified electrician must perform the work. To be certified, an electrician must meet certain experience and education requirements. To work as an electrician, an individual must have a journey level (01) or specialty electrician certificate of competency.
Electrical work requires a permit and an inspection. L&I issues permits and inspects electrical installations. However, cities are authorized to enact ordinances or rules regulating electrical installations within their boundaries that are equal to, or higher, than the state standards for electrical work. If a city adopts its own electrical ordinance and enforces a standard, permitting and inspections are performed by the city instead of L&I.
Summary of First Substitute Bill: A person, firm, partnership, corporation, or other entity, and the manufacturer's authorized engineers and factory-trained service technicians they employ, are exempt from electrical licensing, certification, and inspection requirements for the maintenance, repair, or replacement of components and the disconnection and reconnection of existing low voltage digital control system connections within the confines of the manufacturer's industrial equipment.
Except for disconnection and reconnection of existing low voltage digital control system connections, the exception to licensing, certification, and inspections requirements does not include:
installation, maintenance, repair, disconnection, or reconnection of any premises wiring or electrical equipment connected to industrial equipment;
on-site assembly of industrial equipment; or
electrical interconnections between industrial equipment units.
Industrial equipment means utilization equipment that is:
fully assembled at the manufacturer's facility;
self-contained on a single skid or frame;
of a type that conforms to applicable standards or is indicated as acceptable by the standards of an electrical product testing laboratory; and
directly used in manufacturing or industrial processes not accessible to the public.
Appropriation: None.
Fiscal Note: Available.
Creates Committee/Commission/Task Force that includes Legislative members: No.
Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.
Staff Summary of Public Testimony on First Substitute: PRO: The bill exempts work on industrial equipment that is not really electrical work, it is mostly mechanical work. The technicians that work on this equipment cannot get enough hours to qualify for an electrical license, so the exemption allows them to do the specific work they do without needing an electrical license.
Persons Testifying: PRO: Senator Curtis King, Prime Sponsor; Jim King, Beckwith & Kuffel.
Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: No one.