Overturning a defeat in committee last week, the Dutchess County Legislature on Wednesday approved a measure to request permission from the state legislature to enact licensing provisions for electricians plying their trade in the county.
The law, sponsored by Republicans Bob Clearwater (Hyde Park), Bob Sears (LaGrange) and Marge Horton (East Fishkill), and Democrat Bill McCabe (LaGrangeville), was bottled up in committee by a 5-5 vote, but a motion to discharge it from committee at Wednesday’s meeting, made by Minority Leader Roger Higgins (D-Poughkeepsie/Wappinger), won the support of the full Legislature by a vote of 14-10.
The home rule request, which requires sponsorship by a state legislator representing Dutchess County, then passed 14-8. If the request is granted by the state legislature, the county legislature could enact an electrician licensing law.
Supporters of the law said it would protect consumers and public safety by reducing the risk of fires caused by faulty wiring, but opponents worried that it would add an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy to the industry and discourage competition.
Clearwater, the law’s primary sponsor and an electrician himself, noted that electricians’ unions and trade organizations were in favor of the law, and in fact helped him write it.
“You can’t establish minimum standards without electrician licensing,” he said. “This law would prevent carpenters, plumbers, laborers – whoever – from doing electrical work.”
“It should be statewide,” said McCabe. “But it’s not, so it’s up to counties to lead the way.”
He said the law would ensure that master electricians plying their trade will have an appropriate level of training and experience, and would be more easily held accountable for shoddy work.
“We really need to see this as a form of consumer protection,” said Horton.
But opponents of the law thought the safety risks of faulty wiring had been exaggerated, and were outweighed by the negative effects on competition.
Legislature Chairman Brad Kendall (R-Dover), a residential contractor himself, said the licensing requirements were so steep as to be anti-competitive, calling for applicants to have at least seven years experience as a journeyman before they would be eligible to run their own shop.
With the average age of electricians in the county increasing, Kendall said, the industry needs to attract new people, not drive them away.
“This law would discourage young people from going into the trades,” he said. “You could get a degree from Harvard Medical School faster than you could get an electrician’s license in Dutchess County.”
Kendall also noted that there are considerably more fires in the City of Poughkeepsie, which licenses electricians, than there are in outlying areas of the county.
Jim Hammond (R-Poughkeepsie), chair of the Government Services and Administration Committee, said that a dispatch from the Department of Consumer Affairs stated there had not been any complaints lodged against electrical contractors in the past two years. He also said that, according to the state’s Office of Fire Prevention and Control, there were no fires in the county attributed to faulty wiring reported since 2000.
“The evidence does not support the need for this legislation,” Hammond said.
The legislation was ultimately supported by sponsors Clearwater and Horton and Democrats Roger Higgins, Barbara Jeter-Jackson (City of Poughkeepsie) and Fred Knapp (City of Poughkeepsie). It was opposed by the republican leadership, along with David Kelly (R-Pawling) and Hammond, and the 5-5 deadlock appeared to kill the law’s chances.
But on Wednesday, several Republican legislators broke ranks with party leadership to support the licensing law, including Rob Rolison (R-City of Poughkeepsie), Patrick Nesbitt (R-Town of Poughkeepsie), and John Forman (R-Beacon), as well as the sponsors.