Bill H.155

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 117 FILED ON: 1/6/2017

HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 155

By Miss Garry of Dracut, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 155) of Colleen M. Garry for legislation to establish the wiring inspector education trust fund. Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure.

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 194 OF 2015-2016.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)

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An Act to strengthen enforcement of Chapter 141 and 147 licenses.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 10, as so appearing in the 2012 Official Edition of the Massachusetts General Laws, is hereby amended by inserting after Section 35XX, the following new Section:-

Section 35YY. There shall be established and set up on the books of the commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Wiring Inspector Education Trust Fund. The fund shall consist of fifty percent of monies paid to the state’s board of electrical examiners or board of electricians’ appeals pursuant to section 65A of chapter 112; or section 5 of chapter 141, together with any interest or earnings accrued on such monies through investment or deposit. The state treasurer shall be the custodian of the fund and shall receive, deposit and invest all monies transmitted to him under this section in accordance with sections 34, 34A and 38 of chapter 29 in such a manner as to secure the highest rate of return available consistent with the safety of the fund, and shall credit interest and earnings on the trust fund corpus to the trust fund. The state treasurer shall transfer funds from the income and receipts of the fund to the secretary of administration and finance, from time to time, at the request of the secretary. The secretary shall administer grants from the fund, without further appropriation, and shall award them to inspector of wires associations, cities or towns in the commonwealth to provide education, training, professional and support services for the benefit of inspectors of wires appointed in accordance with section 32 of chapter 166 and charged with the enforcement of chapter 141 and chapter 147.

The secretary shall develop written criteria for the awarding of grants and other funding allocations, which shall be evaluated and, if necessary, revised on an annual basis. The secretary shall file a report detailing the amount of funds collected and expended from the fund along with a copy of the written criteria used to expend the funds to the house and senate committees on ways and means annually not later than February 28. An amount not to exceed 5 per cent of the total funds deposited in the fund may be expended by the secretary for administrative costs directly attributable to the grants and programs funded by the fund, including, but not limited to, the costs of clerical and support personnel. Any unexpended balance of monies in the fund at the end of the fiscal year shall not revert to the General Fund but shall remain available for expenditure from such fund in subsequent fiscal years. No expenditure made from the fund shall cause the fund to become deficient at any point during a fiscal year.

SECTION 2. Chapter 112, as so appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby

amended in Section 65A by striking in line 7 the figure “$1,000” and inserting the

following figure:- $2,500

SECTION 3. Said Section 65A of chapter 112 is hereby further amended in line 8 by

striking the figure “$2,500” and inserting the following figure:- $5,000

SECTION 4. Chapter 141, as so appearing in the 2012 Official Edition, is hereby

amended by striking section 5 in its entirety, and by inserting therein the following

new section:- Section 5. Any person, firm or corporation, or employee thereof, and

any representative, member or officer of such firm or corporation individually,

entering upon or engaging in the business and work hereinbefore defined, or

publicly holding oneself out as so authorized, without the appropriate certificate

described in section 3 of this chapter, shall for the first offence be punished by a

fine of not less than one thousand nor more than two thousand-five hundred

dollars, and for a subsequent offence by a fine of not less than two thousand-five

hundred dollars nor more than five thousand dollars or by imprisonment in the

house of correction for six months, or both.

The examiners and the inspectors of wires in each city and town, as defined in

section thirty-two of chapter one hundred and sixty-six, shall be charged with the

enforcement of this chapter, including notification of violations with respect to

security systems to the department of public safety consistent with the provisions

of sections 57 to 61, inclusive, of chapter 147. They shall have all necessary

powers to require compliance therewith, including, but not limited to, the power to

institute and prosecute proceedings in the superior court department of the trial

court and the power to ensure appropriate injunctive relief to expedite the secure

enforcement of its order against conduct requiring licensure in accordance with the

provisions of this chapter, chapter 147, and regulations promulgated thereunder.

SECTION 5. Chapter 143 of the General Laws, as appearing in said edition, shall

hereby be amended in Section 3L by striking the words “five hundred” in line 28

and inserting in place thereof, the following words:- five thousand

SECTION 6. Said Section 3L of said chapter shall hereby be further amended in line

5 by inserting after the word “purposes” the following:- and of systems as regulated

in chapter 141 for life safety purposes

SECTION 7. Said Section 3L of said chapter shall hereby be further amended in

lines 22 and 31 by inserting after the word “fixtures” the following:- or systems

SECTION 8. Said chapter 143 shall be further amended in

Section 3P by inserting in line 7 after the word “appeal” the following words:- and

decide such appeal, subject to chapter 30A relative to adjudicatory proceedings,

SECTION 9. Said section 3P of chapter 143 shall be further amended in the second

paragraph by striking the second, third, fourth and fifth sentences.

SECTION 10. Said section 3P of chapter 143 shall be further amended by striking

the third paragraph in its entirety and inserting place thereof the following: - The

board’s decision shall be final and binding upon all parties in interest, except that

compliance with any notice, interpretation, order, requirement or direction of an

inspector of wires or other person charged with the enforcement of the rules and

regulations of the board of fire prevention regulations by any person who continues

to practice a trade or profession after his certificate, registration, license or

authority to do so has been suspended, revoked or cancelled under section 61 of

chapter 112 shall be excused pending the final determination of any appeal

therefrom taken under this section.

Name:	District/Address:	Date Added:
Colleen M. Garry	36th Middlesex	1/6/2017