Calfifornia Certification

Bkessler

Has anyone heard any thing new on the california certification. Now that it is the first of the year, is there now a huge demand for certified electricians? and how again are they going to enforce it for public work projects? and Private?
thanks bk ...........go wings!

Bkessler

anybody?

CE1

Here you go! have fun

Up here in the northeast there is already something close to this in place already. I was surprised the California didn't.

By Scott E. Hennigh and James Higgins
Thelen Reid & Priest LLP
The California Division of Apprenticeship Standards has just announced a 180-day grace period for electricians who will not be certified by January 1, 2006.

To qualify for the grace period, electricians must submit their certification applications by December 31, 2005. If they do, they will be given an additional 180 days after submission to take and pass the certification examination.

DAS apparently realized that it was not possible for thousands of California’s electricians to become certified by the January 1, 2006, deadline. As of late October 2005, the certification applications for more than 10,000 electricians had been approved by DAS, yet the applicants still were waiting to take the exam.

The six-month grace period will give electricians who have qualified to take the exam time to prepare and pass it.

Electricians must become certified in order to continue working in California without one-on-one supervision. This mandatory certification program is a result of Assembly Bill 1087, signed by then-Governor Gray Davis in May 2002.

The new law, at Labor Code §§3099.2 et. seq. and at 8 California Code of Regulations §§290.0 et. seq., requires certification “for those persons who perform work as electricians for contractors licensed as Class C-10 electrical contractors under the Contractors' State License Board Rules and Regulations.” After the certification deadline date, uncertified persons generally may not perform electrical work for which certification is required.

The stated purpose of the legislation is to raise the professional level of electricians and to thereby improve safety. An applicant may apply for certification as a General Electrician, Residential Electrician, Voice Data Video Technician, Fire/Life Safety Technician or Nonresidential Lighting Technician.

The certification application deadline is January 1, 2006, for general electricians, residential electricians, fire/life safety technicians, and monolingual Spanish speakers. The certification deadline has been extended to January 1, 2007, for voice-data-video and non-residential lighting technicians.

To be certified, an electrician must pass a computerized certification examination and have completed either an approved apprenticeship program or have thousands of hours of on-the-job experience, ranging from 8,000 hours for General Electricians to 2,000 hours for Nonresidential Lighting Technicians.

The only electrical apprenticeship programs approved by the California Apprenticeship Council are administered by the Western Electrical Contractors Association (non-union), Associated Builders and Contractors (non-union) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (union). WECA has opined that it is extremely unlikely that the union-dominated California Apprenticeship Council will recognize a need for additional programs.

Fees are $75 to apply for the test and $100 to take the computerized certification test. There are 50 to 100 multiple choice questions, depending on which certification is being sought. The General Electrician examination, for example, tests the principles and fundamentals of electricity and such specific areas as conductors, cables, raceways, boxes, motors, testing equipment, lighting and emergency systems. Tests are taken on computers, and there are eight test sites: San Francisco, San Diego, Fresno, Fremont, Rancho Cordova, Van Nuys, Cerritos and Colton.

Certifications must be renewed every three years. To be eligible for renewed certification, an applicant must have 32 hours of electrical continuing education relevant to the type of certification and must certify that he or she has worked 2,000 hours in the industry in the previous three years. An electrician who allows his certification to lapse must retake the certification exam.

DAS may deny, suspend or revoke the certification of an electrician for good cause. Good cause exists if the electrician has committed gross negligence or fraud or has repeatedly acted negligently while performing activities subject to certification.

Holders of C-10 electrical contractor licenses, who are working under the license, do not need to be certified. However, an electrician with a C-10 license working under someone else with a C-10 license must be certified.

After January 1, 2006, an uncertified electrician who did not file an application by December 31, 2005, or an electrician trainee may continue to work only if the person is registered with the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, completes or is enrolled in an approved curriculum of classroom instruction, and his or her employer attests that the person works under the direct supervision of a certified electrician who is responsible for supervising no more than one uncertified person. DAS is revising its regulations to provide clear procedures and deadlines to guide trainees through the application process. It is unclear how the DAS will enforce these requirements, as the agency suffers from major funding cutbacks.

As of September 2005, approximately 31,000 persons had applied for the certification program — up 15,000 from the previous year — but only 21,000 had taken the exam, with a passage rate of about 80 percent.

The major concern within the industry is that most electricians will not be certified by the deadline. The National Electrical Contractors Association, a union contractor trade association that co-sponsored the bills requiring testing and certification, said there are 75,000 electricians in California. This leaves approximately 65,000 electricians in the state who need to take the test before the deadline. One contractor said before the latest extension, “If the law is enforced, the industry will be starving for electricians.”

Assembly Bill 1719, signed by then-Governor Davis in October 2003, allows the California Apprenticeship Council to delay the deadline for testing and certification by up to two years beyond January 1, 2005. On April 28, 2005, the California Apprenticeship Council voted to delay the testing deadline to January 1, 2006.

While the testing and certification legislation had support from both Republicans and Democrats, opinion on the new law is mixed. Electrical unions generally support the law on the ground that it will raise industry standards and increase safety. Critics, such as the Fair Licensing and Apprenticeship Coalition, which has many non-union contractor members, assert that unions hold a “death grip” on the Division of Apprenticeship Standards and monopolize the California Apprenticeship Council. Moreover, they say, apprenticeship programs, which are dominated by unions, will force aspiring electricians to unionize. This will require employers to raise wages, which in turn will raise the costs of hiring an electrician. Assemblyman Bill Maze (R-Visalia), an advocate for small-business owners, is sponsoring legislation that would exempt electrical contractors with fewer than six employees from certification requirements. His bill would require those contractors to employ no more than two certified electricians. Other critics refer to the certification regulations as the Market Recovery Agenda for unions. Critics assert that electrician certification is a precursor to certifications for all construction crafts.

DAS is headquartered at 455 Golden Gate Avenue, 8th Floor, San Francisco CA 94102, (415) 703-4920.

bigjay

Certification went into effect Jan 1 2006.....Testing stopped temporarily due to contractual problems between testing agency and state...from ca dir website....already off to a great start

6 mos. extension given due to lack of numbers of individuals tested before deadline which has been extended many times. Also were not sure how enforcement would be done and how the state(which is supposedly broke)
would pay for it. They now say that if you hire an electrician who is not certified your workmans compensation carrier will not insure that employee.
The union will also be sending out people to jobsites(public and private) to check for certification.


Law was supposedly put into effect for safety reasons yet it only applies to employees of licensed california electrical contractors. This leaves out all
the handymen,general contractors,maintenance electricians and jack of all trades maintenance companies etc. I wonder how bad the safety problem is with legitimate electrical contractors? I am a licensed Ca electrical contractor
and if I or my empolyees were burning buildings down I would be out of business immediately because no one would insure me(general liability)
Hell,my liability insurance has already gone up almost 300 percent with a
spotless record!

This law also sets a standard for the ratio of journeyman to apprentices in the state(I believe it is now 1 to 1- not 100% sure of this fact) on both public and private works jobs. This standard now applies to merit shops.
It also established pay rate for apprentices which is now tha same on public
and private jobs. This evened the playfield for everyone benefiting the ones
that were behind the legislation....any guesses?

I have held a C-10(electrical contracting) license in this state since 1990,
and took a STATE approved law and trade test to get it. I am now legal to do work under my license but now I cannot work as an employee for any other contractor without certification even though I have already taken
a state approved trade test. I have been an electrician 21 years,held an IBEW
journeyman card for part of this time and now I have to take another test and pay for another license,if I work as an emloyee(which I have done during slow times). Last 20 years I was a qualified electrician this year I'm ....hmmmm. I had the pleasure of working with one of these certified electricians last week....showed him how to bend pipe....him qualified?

They had public hearings on this matter, one of which I attended in San Francisco. About 8 out of 10 people that commented during the public comment period wanted many changes to this law the way it was written,
none were made. A public agency that doesnt listen to the public in Califonia,
never heard of that....NOT.. If you follow the money trail and affiliations on this one it will speak volumes ie campaign contributions for Calderon(author)
Davis(exgovernor) affiliations of the board overseeing implementation.

Did'nt mean to get off topic just offering some insight to the new regulations..