Amendment #97 to H4714

Elevator Safety

Representatives Brodeur of Melrose and Chan of Quincy move to amend the bill by adding the following sections:

SECTION XX. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the administration of the office of public safety and inspections at the division of professional licensure may establish a separate fee for elevator inspections occurring before or after normal business hours with one third of the funds being kept by the division and to defray the costs associated with performing overtime elevator inspections.

SECTION XX. Section 22 (a) (5) of chapter 22 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding after “under this section;” the following: "and further provided, however, that any fines assessed under section 65 of chapter 143 shall be calculated solely in accordance with said section 65."

SECTION XX. Section 65 of chapter 143 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended, in line 21, by inserting after "inspector." the words "30 days prior to the expiration of an elevator's inspection certificate, if payment has not been received, the department shall notify the owner and service contractor in writing and add those permit fees into the associated cart of the owner or service contractor on the State’s Inspections and Permitting System (IPS).”

SECTION XX. Said section 65 of said chapter 143, as so appearing, is hereby further amended, in line 24, by inserting after "certificate." the words "The commissioner or the commissioner's designee will waive all of the $100 per day fine when a clerical error made by either the state or the applicant is identified to have caused the failure to comply with this section and there was no risk of injury to the public. Clerical errors either by the applicant or the state include but are not limited to inadvertent errors on the application for annual inspection, data entry mistakes and technical issues within the DPS portal system, exclusion of one device when request(s) for inspection of other devices at same location is filed on time, inconsistency of elevator certificate anniversary date, and problems deriving from change in maintenance companies. This provision will not apply in cases where the department determines that the applicant is abusing the clerical error exemption provided therein.”

SECTION XX. Said section 65 of said chapter 143, as so appearing, is hereby further amended, in line 35, by striking out the figure "$5,000" and inserting in place thereof the figure "$2,500".

SECTION XX. Said section 65 of said chapter 143, as so appearing, is hereby further amended, in line 36, by striking out the figure "$20,000" and inserting in place thereof the figure "$10,000”.

SECTION XX. The administration of the office of public safety and inspections at the division of professional licensure shall promulgate regulations consistent with this act no later than 90 days after the effective date of this act."

SECTION XX. Section 68 of Chapter 143 is amended by adding the following at the end of the first paragraph: “The board of elevator regulations shall review and propose a rule to adopt the most recent edition of the Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators, ASME A17.1/CSA B44 codes within 1 year of publication of a new version of Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators, ASME A17.1/CSA B44. Any proposed changes to Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators, ASME A17.1/CSA B44 must be justified by empirical data.