Legislature(2003 - 2004)
05/02/2003 04:05 PM House L&C
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 268-LICENSING SPECIALTY CONTRACTORS CHAIR ANDERSON announced that the final order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 268, "An Act relating to an exemption for specialty contractors under the laws regulating architects, engineers, land surveyors, and landscape architects." HEATH HILYARD, Staff to Representative Lesil McGuire, Alaska State Legislature, presented HB 268 on behalf of the sponsor, Representative McGuire. Mr. Hilyard paraphrased the sponsor statement, which read as follows: I have introduced HB 268 by request of the state Board of Registration for Architects, Engineers and Land Surveyors (AELS Board), the regulatory board responsible to ensure minimum competency of design professionals it regulates and to ensure that the public health, safety, and welfare is met. The AELS Board is also responsible for overseeing the scope of work practices of those professionals. There currently exists an exemption for specialty contractors in AS 08.48.331 that reads: "... (7) a specialty contractor licensed under AS 08.18 while engaged in the business of construction contracting or designing systems for work within the specialty to be performed or supervised by the specialty contractor, or a contractor preparing shop or field drawings for work that the specialty contractor has contracted to perform;". The AELS Board is concerned, and its investigators have indicated, that specialty contractors are using this statutory exemption to go beyond specialty contracting and actually perform the design work without licensed professionals on nonresidential projects. The work could encompass nonresidential facilities such as commercial, civic, and educational uses, and should be designed by registered architects and engineers. The AELS Board believes the statutory exemption has created a loophole that allows specialty contractors to perform work beyond their expertise and believe there may be serious public health and/or safety concerns when a building used by the general public is designed without the expertise of registered Alaskan architects and engineers. The Board's investigators indicated that there have been numerous incidents of construction of nonresidential projects that did not have an engineer or an architect involved in the design process. The AELS Board wants specialty contractors to be able to perform specialty contractor residential work and to be able to produce shop drawings for nonresidential work based upon designs created by professional architects, engineers, or landscape architects. Number 1890 PATRICK KALEN, Member, AELS Board, thanked the committee for its action on HB 252. Mr. Kalen confirmed that AELS Board's investigator highlighted that there were cases that he wanted to bring forward, but couldn't because the specialty contractors are using the earlier mentioned statutory exemption. He urged the committee to pass HB 268. Number 1934 COLIN MAYNARD, Principle, BPF Engineers (ph); Alaska Professional Design Council (APDC), related that it has been brought to [APDC's] attention that some mechanical, electrical, and specialty contractors are designing projects without the benefit of training required to be a licensed engineer. The aforementioned can create a hazard for life and safety, and therefore he urged the committee to pass HB 268. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG remarked that this is an extraordinarily controversial provision in the law and thus care must be taken. He turned attention to page 2, line 26, and inquired as to the meaning of "field drawings for work." He also inquired as to whether any specialty contractor couldn't use field drawings or prepared shop drawings for work in the field. MR. MAYNARD explained that the design for whatever system is designed by an engineer in conjunction with the other trades and the architect for the project in order to develop a cohesive set of documents. Those documents are turned over to the contractor who prepares shop drawings, which specify each part and how the parts fit together. The shop drawings are the drawings that are used in the field to put the project together. The shop drawings can be prepared by the specialty contractor while the base drawings should be designed by the licensed engineer. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG surmised that the intention of the statute is that the specialty contractor could prepare the shop or field drawings based on the design drawings developed by the professional. MR. MAYNARD said that would be correct. However, he noted that residential construction is different because, in theory, anyone can design for residential construction. In further response to Representative Rokeberg, Mr. Maynard specified that this residential exemption is found on page 2, line 12-16. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG asked if this is a recommendation of the [AELS] Board. MR. MAYNARD replied yes, through the request of the [AELS Board's] investigator. MR. KALEN confirmed the above. In response to Representative Rokeberg, Mr. Kalen said that he hadn't spoken with all the specialty contractors in the state, although he is one himself. Mr. Kalen said that he didn't know whether the specialty contractors will have a problem with being allowed to design. However, great care was taken to allow the specialty contractors to prepare shop and field drawings. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG asked if it was common for mechanical contractors to do their own shop drawings. He asked if having a mechanical engineer do the drawings is necessary when a mechanical contractor is doing modifications to an off-the-shelf system. MR. MAYNARD answered that he believes that if a mechanical contractor does design-build work, the mechanical contractor is usually owned or operated by a mechanical engineer or have mechanical engineers on staff. If a mechanical contractor is going to design a system completely from scratch without any engineer drawings, someone who is licensed would need to create shop drawings from a set of [base] drawings and [the mechanical contractor] wouldn't need to have a license. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG surmised that the enactment of this law would mean that someone with 30 years of experience wouldn't be able to prepare shop drawings. MR. MAYNARD replied no, the individual would be able to prepare shop drawings but wouldn't be able to do the original design. Number 2270 SAM KITO, III, Alaska Professional Design Council (APDC), related his understanding that Representative Rokeberg is concerned that a mechanical contractor wouldn't be able to prepare shop drawings. The exemption in the licensure statute is to allow mechanical administrators and contractors to prepare shop drawings, but those shop drawings would be completed by a registered professional engineer. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG remarked that he believes HB 268 is going to cause a lot of people problems, and therefore there should be serious review of it. He expressed the need to craft this legislation such that it doesn't harm commerce and business in the state. Furthermore, Representative Rokeberg pointed out that HB 268 has only one committee of referral. He mentioned the need to inform the parties which would be impacted by this legislation. REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM inquired as to how long this legislation has been noticed. CHAIR ANDERSON replied that it has been noticed for a week. REPRESENTATIVE DAHLSTROM noted that she wonders whether anyone has any concerns if no one has expressed concern over the week the legislation has been noticed. MR. KITO said that he has spoken with the homebuilders representative who said that HB 268 doesn't propose to impact anything the homebuilders are working on. He noted that he has had brief conversations with the Associated General Contractors, who haven't had an opportunity to fully review the legislation but aren't concerned at this point. REPRESENTATIVE ROKEBERG stated that this legislation impacts the specialty contractors. The legislation requires that there be an architectural or engineering stamp. TAPE 03-46, SIDE B CHAIR ANDERSON announced that HB 268 would be held over.
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