Kansas Board Approves NAHI and ASHI Tests - Denies NACHI Test

General Inspection Topics Legislation, Licensing, Ethics & Legal Issues
21

The difficulty that Barnes will have in responding to the claim of obvious bias is in the law, itself.

The original law recognized the validity of all national associations by requiring each Kansas inspector to belong to one…which passing the InterNACHI on-line examination would be a required step.

In the absence of that requirement by the legislators…who made no distinction between associations…we have the new wording written by Barnes which does reflect the bias that the original law did not.

By this act, Mr. Barnes has stuck his middle finger in the face of every member…not just those who he is trying to exclude in his home state. I would hope that all InterNACHI members will now join us in this fight.

22

We had a similar situation years ago when Escambia county FL had a HI licensing board before we got the ordinance repealed. The board would make up new rules every month that were not in the original law but no one in the local government gave a flip. The rules always made it more difficult for some inspectors to (1) qualify for a license in the first place or (2) prevented or hampered inspectors from staying qualified with the exception of a few. I had a lawyer standing by licking her chops for a chance to swoop in on the County and the board if we were not successful in getting the County Ordinance repealed. She said it was a slam dunk case.

In the end, even every single member of the HI licensing board came around and was in complete agreement when we presented our case before the “newly appointed” Board of County Commissioners. They in turn unanimously voted to repeal the ordinance.

23

My error when stated it was part of Kansas law. Thank’s for pointing that out.

Unless it is amended before it is signed by the governor however it will become Kansas law.

It would make sense for NACHI to submit it’s test to an outside evaluator to gain the needed credibility required by state laws…

24

Nick, why don’t we submit the test ?

25

Remember everyone, if the new laws pass, Mr. Barnes will have the authority to chose any test that he wants us to take in order for us to be registered, certified, and licensed under his rules, regulations, standards, and any other crapola/vendor that he can get money from. Pay to play. Where will this money go? Who guards the guard? Who handles the checkbook? Who keeps the records of all the personal info that we send in? Does he sell the e-mail addresses? This board is a total anarchy, and should be thrown out by the state government. I believe that other board members did not vote, or were even informed about HB 2260. That in itself should tell you something is very wrong here. Perhaps it is right of Nick to stay out.

26

Do you REALLY believe this? Will all of todays technology, there is no company out there to evaluate your “cutting edge” system? Thats really FUNNY as hell. Your “cutting edge” system is like the TEST YOUR IQ that they give away for free on line…ask questions get a score. The other problem is that I can sit at this computer and take test for all my inspectors and have them pass. You have NO IDEA who is taking the test.

When I became a IAQA CIE…I went to the class, had to submit paperwork proving my proficiency before hand and then went to a testing station showed two forms of ID and one had to be state issued. No phone, no pen no paper…they provided it all. I took the test, 2 days later got a call saying I passed. It isn’t rocket science

27

What you guys are suggesting is not totally without merit for some future consideration, but it is not at all relevent to what the immediate needs for action are in Kansas.

First, the original bill that was approved by the state legislature and signed into law by the Governor recognized ALL national associations and their eligibility criteria as sufficient enough to actually require all Kansas inspectors to belong to at least one.

Exercising the bias that was predicted by Nick in his letter to the Governor, Barnes has perverted the intent of the actual law by excluding the one particular association that he was already on the record as having publicly ridiculed.

Nick has statements sent to him by ASHI, NAHI and InterNACHI members who attended meetings that Barnes spoke at…proclaiming that he had fraudulently enrolled his dog (Molly) as a member of NACHI in order to discredit NACHI, as well as other disparaging declarations that they were witnesses to.

Second, the wording of Barnes’ education policy specifically excludes all NACHI education (on-line or seminar) in favor of an already in place ASHI educator. Rural inspectors must travel to where his permanent facility is in order for their CEUs.

The unprecedented degree of anti-NACHI bias in all aspects of this bill is indicative of the true fact…that is…there is nothing that Nick will be able to do to meet these constantly changing definitions designed to keep NACHI out. An even newer revision, tomorrow, will add a feature that he lacks to anything he does today to comply.

Today…without delay…we need to confront the bias in this legislation that has been presented without any demonstrated need for it…at the expense of a state that is on the verge of bankruptcy, and cannot afford such a bill in the first place.

28

William Siegel -

Kansas did not deny the NACHI Test. The Kansas Home Inspector Review Board did not deny the NACHI Test. One person wrote that verbiage and got it submitted into the Bill - Just like 90% of the other stuff being included.

29

There has to be some monitary funding to represenitives here. Some pushing, shoving, something that is going on had to push the vote this week to 97 to 26 in favor to approve these “revisions”. Where is the influence coming from? What does Mr. Barnes have to gain by pushing these rules into law? This is a complete farse in the making, only controlled by one person backed by the KAR. I believe an investigation by the judicial system is warranted, before it all ends up in a large court case. Kansas does not have the funds or the revenue, or can afford the negative publicity that this would bring. I hope the senate realizes this, and comes to it’s senses. The original bill was signed on a Sunday, and I bet all the tea in China that the governor never read it. And, she may be going to Washington. Everyone has dirty laundry.

30

Jim Bushart - You Said:

“Second, the wording of Barnes’ education policy specifically excludes all NACHI education (on-line or seminar) in favor of an already in place ASHI educator. Rural inspectors must travel to where his permanent facility is in order for their CEUs”.

NOT TRUE - The various wordings of things like the PROPOSED “Rules and Regulations” for Kansas Home Inspectors and the language of the **NEW **Bill (HB-2260) is **TRYING **to push ALL continuing education AND Entry level education in Kansas **UNDER **the Kansas State Regents Board (the group that governs colleges, universities, BIG Trade or Vo-Tech Schools like Vatterott, ITA/Kaplan, etc).

The language of the **NEW **Bill (HB-2260) also states the Kansas Home Inspector Review Board can hire OUTSIDE CONSULTANTS / AGENCIES to: "help approve courses of study, educational providers and providers of continuing education and continuing education courses meeting the standards for approval established by rules and regulations of the board; and contract with agencies or consultants as necessary to assist the board in obtaining information about educational providers qualifications, etc, etc".

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The ONLY thing that could possibly EXCLUDE anybody is the “Rules or Regulations” of the HI Board OR the costs involved with getting set up to be APPROVED by the Kansas Board of Regents - Little Things like owning your own building or having a 2-3 year lease on one; a $800 APPLICATION fee for in-state providers and $1,200 APPLICATION fee for out of state providers; having $1,000,000 insurance policies and $100,000 bonds on wherever you hold classes; ADA access to sites the classes are at.

So Jim - As you can plainly see, there is NOTHING in this Bill’s wording that EXCLUDES InterNACHI or NAHI or Anybody. That EXCLUDING people would all be TAKEN CARE OF by the State Board of Regents or the SPECIAL CONSULTANTS hired by the Board.

Oh - If memory serves me correctly ONCE they approve your 1 place / I believe you can just about trot alll over the state and teach in a POLE BARN if you want. Now the Kansas HI Board DID NOT slam that language ONTO us; the Realtors DID NOT slam that crap ONTO us. The legislators DID NOT slam that language ONTO us. YOU be astute and GUESS who did.

I sat in sessions at the Kansas Home Inspectors Review Board where we were told by 1 Board Member that ALL CE or ENTRY level education in KANSAS for LICENSED professions was required to be CONTROLLED and UNDER the Kansas State Regents Board - I brought up several times there are a BUNCH of professions that are NOT. IT IS MY TRUE BELIEF THAT SOMEONE OR SOMEONES WANT US TO BE GOVERNED THIS WAY. That could allow them to say - they DID NOT exclude ANYBODY, the Regents Board did that. That way if there was a lawsuit, these somebodies could have a State Agency paying to defend them.

See the attached list of licensed Kansas professions NOT under the REGENTS BOARD. Most of the professions not requiring a college degree or lengthy vo-tech program are NOT under or WITH the Kansas Regents Board.

As home inspectors its NOT in our best interest to let ourselves get PLACED under the Regents Board. That is what would CHANNEL all education to the SPECIAL INTEREST groups.

31

Huh?

Perhaps, as one who would like to train inspectors in Kansas, this has particular meaning to you…but it does not address the bias that I was referring to.

The legislature passed a bill and the Governor signed it into law…that recognized all national associations equally and required Kansas home inspectors to belong to the association of his choice. They made no distinction…as Barnes has in his rules that are supposed to be implementing the law within the guidelines provided to him…from one association to another. All of them fit the bill.

Now…on his own and without any support from any wording in the law signed by the governor or the revised bill being submitted for signature…he has provided a distinction by allowing people who passed tests administered by NAHI and ASHI, but not InterNACHI, to participate in grandfathering provisions of the law as well as entry into the profession.

Bias in the rules written by him…where it did not exist in the law written by the legislature…is what I am referring to that needs to be addressed so that people can be home inspectors.

Those who want to be vendors to home inspectors are of little interest to me. They get what they get…and they don’t get what they don’t get, as far as I’m concerned. The special interests can look out for themselves, IMO.

32

Oh - I almost forgot.

The Kansas Real Estate agents did put themselves under the Kansas State Regents Board several years ago. It helped them cut down on state Real Estate Schools. No all - BUT - many of the RE Schools are now held at various Board of Realtors around the state. AND it takes an arm and a leg to get set up with them.