A Cedia employee just called to to encourage local business owners to attend hearings for this bill. Cedia representatives are attending the hearings.

This bill, if passed would force us al to hire a Master Electrician. Its obviously not realistic for most of us to go through the apprentice, journeyman then master process, one that takes many years.

So where does this come from? I live in a very democratic state, one that is not friendly to small business. Is this just politicians looking to regulate even more...

... or do the high voltage unions fear what our industry is going to do to theirs? As low voltage lighting and devices become more and more prevalent, I think traditional electricians are scared.

This could destroy our industry. Scary indeed.

From Cedia:

Summary of Maryland Legislation
Maryland Senate Bill 877 and its companion, House Bill 1119, phases out local electrical licenses, making them invalid on or after October 1, 2019 (regardless of the expiration date). This would include county and local limited licenses. After that date, the state’s Board of Electricians would issue all electrical licenses.

The two respective bill sponsors, State Senator Katherine Klausmeier and Delegate Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, were on last year’s Task Force to Study Licensing and Continuing Education Requirements for Electricians in Maryland.


What It Means For You & Your Business
You will need to either have a master electrician license or employ one to supervise your work if you do any “electrical-related” work within Maryland after October 1, 2019.

The bills define “providing electrical services” as any service in the electrical trade, including “installing, repairing, maintaining, erecting, or altering any electrical equipment, wiring, fixture, apparatus, raceway, conduit, or system that generates, transmits, transforms, or uses electrical energy in any form for heat, light, power, or communication.”

The three levels of licensing would include “master electrician,” “journeyperson electrician,” and “apprentice electrician.” Both journeypersons and apprentices would have to work under the supervision of a master electrician.

To obtain a “master electrician” license under the legislation, the applicant would need to work three years as a journeyperson, prove seven years of experience total under a master electrician, and pass a Board of Electricians examination.

To obtain a “journeyperson electrician” license, the applicant must show proof of employment under a master electrician for at least four years and hold a certification of completion from an accredited electrical apprenticeship program as defined in the bill.

An “apprentice electrician” would need to get a license from the Board of Electricians, showing that the applicant is working under a master electrician and is in training to become a journeyperson electrician.
 

Yikes!!

that is NOT good for our industry.

This type of thing was attempted in Minnesota several years ago, spearheaded by the electricians lobby.

Ultimately, it was tempered down dramatically, so that installers had to be licensed for low voltage work. During a grace period, you could get licensure simply by going through hoops of registration. You had to maintain a certain number of ceu credits to maintain the license.

I grandfathered in as an instructor for low voltage stuff, and on occasion will teach a class full of guys who would rather be elsewhere going over fundamental stuff.

I am sure however that CATV and Phone companies will be exempt from this requirement.

You definitely do need to be licensed for LV in Maryland, but this is taking it to a whole new level.

I think that we should all be required to have a license. It separates us from the trunk slammers and makes sure that LV guys understand,know and abide by the NEC, but to require us to be or employ master electricians is just a slap in the face and bureaucratic methods of putting us out of business.

Do these politicians really think that HV Electricians are more qualified to do what we do than we are? Well of course they have no clue. Some of the messiest work I see on construction sites is romex HV wire.



Even if they are exempt, they have the $$$ to employ Master Electricians as needed to get by. The cost of the electrician on staff pales by the value of their RMR.

But the Maryland Government is SOOO unfriendly to independent/small business that they just don't get it. The politicians will push laws to prove their value, protect their friends, and take funding from lobbyists (hint hint: the unions) and not give a care at all about us.

You really can't expect them to go get certified...I mean, c'mon. :P

This is the future for all states. The electricians see that lighting is going to LV LED where cat5,6,7 will be run from a switch to the cans. This is a huge hit to their incomes. Anyone that doesn't see this coming to their state is kidding themselves

most of them as far as im concerned are totally clueless to this kind of stuff (meaning LV lighting) i mean freaking clueless. I just finisished up an ultra high end kitchen where LV lighting was specced. Because of the electricians choosen todo the job were totally clueless to this they went back to the designer and forced them to use LV lighting but with transformers so they could run line voltage to each light. Added 2,000 over the cost of the originally specced lighting system.

I run across this time after time.

As far as im concerned when it comes to LV they need us more then we need them. But i fully understand that the unions are feeling threatened by the future LV technology and lighting.

And don't ever mess with a F'in Union. They are the most hypocritical, blood sucking groups in business/politics in the country. Unions are for people too dumb to stand up for themselves, so the Unions are simply money hungry opportunists that hide behind the curtain of "protection". Isn't that a Mob mentality?

BUT they have plenty of money to fight and crush us. They took it from the fools who pay them dues to further ruin our economy so those fool's children won't have a job.

To think that our president so adamantly supports the Unions is sickening!

Totally agree bud! the pendulum has sung grossly in the wrong direction. There was a time when unions were needed, now there is a time when the corporations cant do a damned thing and actually expand without the union parasites. And now the south is dealing with the UAW's grubby paws trying to take over the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga TN. I sure hope the plant votes NO tomorrow.

If anyone has been effected the most financially by unions and their sleezy tactics is Boeing.

It is disgusting.

We have this in Washington State. It all staretd with a CI company who happened to have a master electricican on board...

They did a big push for licensing, to make it difficult for smaller companies that didn't have master electricians on board to win jobs.

I wouldn't say it is due to Democrats. Just sayin'.

And was any legislation passed based on their push?

There are VERY few if any republicans for unions. and if they are for unions its for union regulation and to make them less powerful...Of course you cant do that because of the democrat/union machine going.

When was the last time a large union supported a republican candidate? at least in the last 20 years?

Look im not totally against unions...im AGAINST the unions we have going today. They are too big and uncontrollable (like our government) they have the corporations by the balls and the corporations cant do a damn thing about it. Look at the fiasco the came out of boeing moving to a right to work state.

If an electrical contractor is too stupid to hire a LV guy, that's their problem. LV people can easily double on HV, so it's a good thing for both- the LV guy could eventually get their HV license and the contractor can establish their company in HV and LV work.

OTOH, if a licensed electrician is hired by a LV contractor, it allows them to pull permits and do the work. Ir should also negate the requirement to hire an electrician to install a drop to the TV or projector and that can eliminate delays and other BS.

Ughh...You absolutely wear me out with your tirades about the Unions when you know absolutely nothing about them except what Fox News tells you.  But you still rant about them every chance you get.   In all of your 20'ish years, you've learned so much about unions.

Ya know who I bet wishes they had a good union right about now?  The Low Voltage guys in Maryland.  That's who.