6231-S AMS HOCH S4810

6231-S AMS HOCH S4810.1

SSB 6231 - S AMD - 177

By Senator Hochstatter

NOT ADOPTED 2/15/00

Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:

"Sec. 1. RCW 19.28.005 and 1993 c 275 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) "Administrator" means a person designated by an electrical contractor to supervise electrical work and electricians in accordance with the rules adopted under this chapter.

(2) "Board" means the electrical board under RCW 19.28.065.

(3) "Chapter" means chapter 19.28 RCW.

(4) "Department" means the department of labor and industries.

(5) "Director" means the director of the department or the director's designee.

(6) "Electrical construction trade" includes but is not limited to installing or maintaining electrical wires and equipment that are used for light, heat, or power and installing and maintaining remote control, signaling, power limited, or communication circuits or systems.

(7) "Electrical contractor" means a person, firm, partnership, corporation, or other entity that offers to undertake, undertakes, submits a bid for, or does the work of installing or maintaining wires or equipment that convey electrical current.

(8) "Equipment" means any equipment or apparatus that directly uses, conducts, or is operated by electricity but does not mean plug-in household appliances.

(9) "Industrial control panel" means a factory-wired or user-wired assembly of industrial control equipment such as motor controllers, switches, relays, power supplies, computers, cathode ray tubes, transducers, and auxiliary devices. The panel may include disconnect means and motor branch circuit protective devices.

(10) "Journeyman electrician" means a person who has been issued a journeyman electrician certificate of competency by the department.

(11) "Specialty electrician" means a person who has been issued a specialty electrician certificate of competency by the department.

(12) "Telecommunications backbone cabling systems" means a system that provides interconnections between telecommunications closets, equipment rooms, and entrance facilities in the telecommunications cabling system structure. Backbone cabling consists of the backbone cables, intermediate and main cross-connects, mechanical terminations, and patch cords or jumpers used for backbone to backbone cross-connection. Backbone cabling also includes cabling between buildings.

(13) "Telecommunications closet" means a room for housing telecommunications equipment, cable terminations, and cross-connect wiring that serve that particular floor. The closet is the recognized transition point between the backbone and horizontal cabling systems.

(14) "Telecommunications horizontal cabling systems" means the portions of the telecommunications cabling system that extends from the work area telecommunications outlet or connector to the telecommunications closet. The horizontal cabling includes the horizontal cables, the telecommunications outlet or connector in the work area, the mechanical termination, and horizontal cross-connections located in the telecommunications closet.

(15) "Telecommunications structured cabling system" means the complete collective configuration of cabling and associated hardware at a given site and installed to perform specific telecommunications functions.

(16) "Telecommunications systems" means structured cabling systems that begin at the demarcation point between the local service provider and the customer's premises structured cabling system.

(a) Telecommunications systems encompass all forms of information generation, processing, and transporting of signals conveyed electronically or optically within or between buildings, including voice, data, video, and audio.

(b) Telecommunications systems include structured cabling systems, compatible connecting hardware, telecommunications equipment, premises switching equipment, infrared, fiber optic, radio-frequency, and other limited-energy interconnections associated with telecommunications systems or appliances.

(c) Telecommunications systems do not include horizontal cabling used for fire protection signaling systems, intrusion alarms, access control systems, patient monitoring systems, energy management control systems, industrial and automation control systems, HVAC/refrigeration control systems, lighting control systems, and stand-alone amplified sound or public address systems.

(d) Telecommunications systems may interface with other building signal systems including security, alarms, and energy management at cross-connection junctions within telecommunications closets or at extended points of demarcation. Telecommunications systems do not include the installation or termination of premises line voltage service, feeder, or branch circuit conductors or equipment.

Sec. 2. RCW 19.28.010 and 1993 c 275 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) All wires and equipment, and installations thereof, that convey electric current and installations of equipment to be operated by electric current, in, on, or about buildings or structures, except for noncomposite fiber optic cables, structured communications cabling, telephone, telegraph, radio, and television wires and equipment, and television antenna installations, signal strength amplifiers, and coaxial installations pertaining thereto shall be in strict conformity with this chapter, the statutes of the state of Washington, and the rules issued by the department, and shall be in conformity with approved methods of construction for safety to life and property. All wires and equipment that fall within section 90.2(b)(5) of the National Electrical Code, 1981 edition, are exempt from the requirements of this chapter. The regulations and articles in the National Electrical Code, the national electrical safety code, and other installation and safety regulations approved by the national fire protection association, as modified or supplemented by rules issued by the department in furtherance of safety to life and property under authority hereby granted, shall be prima facie evidence of the approved methods of construction. All materials, devices, appliances, and equipment used in such installations shall be of a type that conforms to applicable standards or be indicated as acceptable by the established standards of any electrical product testing laboratory which is accredited by the department. Industrial control panels, utilization equipment, and their components do not need to be listed, labeled, or otherwise indicated as acceptable by an accredited electrical product testing laboratory unless specifically required by the National Electrical Code, 1993 edition.

(2) Residential buildings or structures moved into or within a county, city, or town are not required to comply with all of the requirements of this chapter, if the original occupancy classification of the building or structure is not changed as a result of the move. This subsection shall not apply to residential buildings or structures that are substantially remodeled or rehabilitated.

(3) This chapter shall not limit the authority or power of any city or town to enact and enforce under authority given by law, any ordinance, rule, or regulation requiring an equal, higher, or better standard of construction and an equal, higher, or better standard of materials, devices, appliances, and equipment than that required by this chapter. A city or town shall require that its electrical inspectors meet the qualifications provided for state electrical inspectors in accordance with RCW 19.28.070. In a city or town having an equal, higher, or better standard the installations, materials, devices, appliances, and equipment shall be in accordance with the ordinance, rule, or regulation of the city or town. Electrical equipment associated with spas, hot tubs, swimming pools, and hydromassage bathtubs shall not be offered for sale or exchange unless the electrical equipment is certified as being in compliance with the applicable product safety standard by bearing the certification mark of an approved electrical products testing laboratory.

(4) Nothing in this chapter may be construed as permitting the connection of any conductor of any electric circuit with a pipe that is connected with or designed to be connected with a waterworks piping system, without the consent of the person or persons legally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the waterworks piping system.

Sec. 3. RCW 19.28.200 and 1998 c 98 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) No license under the provision of this chapter shall be required from any utility or any person, firm, partnership, corporation, or other entity employed by a utility because of work in connection with the installation, repair, or maintenance of lines, wires, apparatus, or equipment owned by or under the control of a utility and used for transmission or distribution of electricity from the source of supply to the point of contact at the premises and/or property to be supplied and service connections and meters and other apparatus or appliances used in the measurement of the consumption of electricity by the customer.

(2) No license under the provisions of this chapter shall be required from any utility because of work in connection with the installation, repair, or maintenance of the following:

(a) Lines, wires, apparatus, or equipment used in the lighting of streets, alleys, ways, or public areas or squares;

(b) Lines, wires, apparatus, or equipment owned by a commercial, industrial, or public institution customer that are an integral part of a transmission or distribution system, either overhead or underground, providing service to such customer and located outside the building or structure: PROVIDED, That a utility does not initiate the sale of services to perform such work;

(c) Lines and wires, together with ancillary apparatus, and equipment, owned by a customer that is an independent power producer who has entered into an agreement for the sale of electricity to a utility and that are used in transmitting electricity from an electrical generating unit located on premises used by such customer to the point of interconnection with the utility's system.

(3) Any person, firm, partnership, corporation, or other entity licensed under RCW 19.28.120 may enter into a contract with a utility for the performance of work under subsection (2) of this section.

(4) No license under the provisions of this chapter shall be required from any person, firm, partnership, corporation, or other entity because of the work of installing and repairing ignition or lighting systems for motor vehicles.

(5) No license under the provisions of this chapter shall be required from any person, firm, partnership, corporation, or other entity because of work in connection with the installation, repair, or maintenance of wires and equipment, and installations thereof, exempted in RCW 19.28.010.

(6) The department may by rule exempt from licensing requirements under this chapter work performed on premanufactured electric power generation equipment assemblies and control gear involving the testing, repair, modification, maintenance, or installation of components internal to the power generation equipment, the control gear, or the transfer switch.

(7) No license under the provisions of this chapter shall be required from any person, firm, partnership, corporation, or other entity because of work in connection with the installation, repair, maintenance, or testing of telecommunications systems. "Telecommunications systems" includes equipment and associated hardware, pathway systems, and cable management systems. It also includes installation of open wiring systems of telecommunications cables, surface nonmetallic raceways designated and used exclusively for telecommunications, optical fiber innerduct raceway, underground raceways designated and used exclusively for telecommunications and installed for additions or extensions to existing telecommunications systems not to exceed fifty feet inside the building, and incidental short sections of circular or surface metal raceway, not to exceed ten feet, for access or protection of telecommunications cabling and installation of cable trays and ladder racks in telecommunications service entrance rooms, spaces, or closets.

Sec. 4. RCW 19.28.610 and 1998 c 98 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

Nothing in RCW 19.28.510 through 19.28.620 shall be construed to require that a person obtain a license or a certified electrician in order to do electrical work at his or her residence or farm or place of business or on other property owned by him or her unless the electrical work is on the construction of a new building intended for rent, sale, or lease. However, if the construction is of a new residential building with up to four units intended for rent, sale, or lease, the owner may receive an exemption from the requirement to obtain a license or use a certified electrician if he or she provides a signed affidavit to the department stating that he or she will be performing the work and will occupy one of the units as his or her principal residence. The owner shall apply to the department for this exemption and may only receive an exemption once every twenty-four months. It is intended that the owner receiving this exemption shall occupy the unit as his or her principal residence for twenty-four months after completion of the units. Nothing in RCW 19.28.510 through 19.28.620 shall be intended to derogate from or dispense with the requirements of any valid electrical code enacted by a city or town pursuant to RCW 19.28.010(3), except that no code shall require the holder of a certificate of competency to demonstrate any additional proof of competency or obtain any other license or pay any fee in order to engage in the electrical construction trade. RCW 19.28.510 through 19.28.620 shall not apply to common carriers subject to Part I of the Interstate Commerce Act, nor to their officers and employees. Nothing in RCW 19.28.510 through 19.28.620 shall be deemed to apply to the installation or maintenance of telephone, telegraph, radio, or television wires and equipment; nor to any electrical utility or its employees in the installation, repair, and maintenance of electrical wiring, circuits, and equipment by or for the utility, or comprising a part of its plants, lines or systems. The licensing provisions of RCW 19.28.510 through 19.28.620 shall not apply to:

(1) Persons making electrical installations on their own property or to regularly employed employees working on the premises of their employer, unless the electrical work is on the construction of a new building intended for rent, sale, or lease;

(2) Employees of an employer while the employer is performing utility type work of the nature described in RCW 19.28.200 so long as such employees have registered in the state of Washington with or graduated from a state-approved outside lineman apprenticeship course that is recognized by the department and that qualifies a person to perform such work; ((or))

(3) Any work exempted under RCW 19.28.200(6); or

(4) Persons, firms, partnerships, corporations, or other entities engaged in the installation, repair, or maintenance of telecommunications systems.

Nothing in RCW 19.28.510 through 19.28.620 shall be construed to restrict the right of any householder to assist or receive assistance from a friend, neighbor, relative or other person when none of the individuals doing the electrical installation hold themselves out as engaged in the trade or business of electrical installations. Nothing precludes any person who is exempt from the licensing requirements of this chapter under this section from obtaining a journeyman or specialty certificate of competency if they otherwise meet the requirements of this chapter."

SSB 6231 - S AMD - 177

By Senator Hochstatter

NOT ADOPTED 2/15/00

On page 1, line 2 of the title, after "installations;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "and amending RCW 19.28.005, 19.28.010, 19.28.200, and 19.28.610."