Proposed WA Legislation

General Inspection Topics Legislation, Licensing, Ethics & Legal Issues
1

I rec’d a copy of this ASHI in an email - Russ

Sent: 01/16/2006 11:08:19 AM
Subject: FW: Washington State Home Inspector legislation Senate bill 6229

INWASHI Members,
Attached below is pending legislation in Washington. Read and e-mail back with any thoughts to either myself or Gary Fuller as we will be attending a meeting at the end of this month in Seattle and should have more information at that time.

–
Tom Ashenbrenner
A+ Home Inspection
ASHI Member #210147
WSDA Structural Pest Inspector #63146
President-Inland Northwest Chapter of ASHI

-------------- Forwarded Message: --------------
From: “Centennial Home Inspection Services, Inc.” <centennial.hi@verizon.net>
To: <inspecthomes1@comcast.net>
Subject: Washington State Home Inspector legislation Senate bill 6229
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2006 04:32:42 +0000
[size=3]Dear Tom,

I did not word my previous email of January 12, 2006 adequately and some folks have mistakenly assumed that I meant to report the opposite of what I meant to convey.

The email should have read:
Legislation to regulate the home inspection industry has been dropped *in the hopper *in the Washington State Senate. It is sponsored by Senators Spanel and Kohl-Welles and has been referred to the Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research & Development.

This bill is in committee and a hearing may soon be scheduled and the bill could move forward.

Again, this notice is sent via the ASHI National Legislative committee. Hugh Kelso and I both now sit on this committee. This new bill is being sent to you for your information. At this point in time, my only purpose is to inform you of pending legislation that affects our industry and your business. We will attempt to keep you informed of current activity.
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Please review it and return any comments or questions that you may have to Hugh and I. If you have any other information regarding this bill, please let us know.

Thanks, Joanne MacKintosh
ASHI Western Washington COR
425-820-7087

[FONT=Verdana][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana] [/FONT][FONT=Verdana]http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2005-06/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Bills/6229.pdf[/FONT]
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](“http://www.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/2005-06/Pdf/Bills/Senate%20Bills/6229.pdf”)[/size]

2

Thanks Russel,

I like page two who is exempt. item # 14 Structural Pest Inspectors, all home inspectors in Washington are required to be SPI licensed so I guess we are all exempt.

3

Any idea when the meeting is to be held, Ted?

4

No but I beleive there is another proposal floating around that is a little more association friendly also, unless it has changed drasticly. Does any one else out here in Washington know more about when this meeting is?

5

Typical long winded legislation. Here is an interesting section that irks me.

Section 5
(3) In development of the training course, the board must review the standards of practice and code of ethics of the American society of home inspectors and incorporate into the training course any portions that are determined by the board to be applicable.
If the State is going to start full registration ruled by a Board, (that by the way will have a Real Estate Broker, an Appraiser, a civil engineer, two 10+ year home inspectors and 4 teachers or administrators from Washington State colleges or technical schools) then the Board should put together their own Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics and not rely soley on those from a single organization. Section 11 does call for the Board to develop the Standards and Ethics.

I have already emailed each Senator on the Labor, Commerce, Research & Development Committee to delete or change the inclusion of any ASHI specific language as the only background material used to determine the new rules we will be operating under.

It will be interesting to see how this develops. This is still in committee and no telling on how long it will take to pass. The effective date is 7-1-06 but until the law is passed, there is no Board, no education curriculum, no rules no nothing.

For those that would like to read the entire bill I have attached the pdf file.

6

I’m going to hold off on other comments for now until this develops a little more but I can’t help but wonder why we would need an appraiser on the board. I can understand a realtor (don’t like it, but understand), but exactly what relevance does an appraiser have? They serve a purpose and I’ve got nothing in particular against them, but our jobs are not related in any way that I see as meaningful.

7

This is definently not the same one that was floating around a few months ago. The one I had or have someware, is not a one association atemptto con trol the state like this one. I will try to find the other one that is floating around. it was past out at a pest EC class in october or november in renton if any one has it please post it.

8

Hi Ted,

I did a search of all legislation that is current and has been assigned a bill number, whether house or senate. I searched using the terms: home, house, residential, inspector, inspection, registration, license, licensing and could not find any other bill. Perhaps what was floating around was an individuals attempt to test the waters prior to submitting it to their representative.

Let’s hope that this can be cleaned up in committee. You can subscribe to an email list for the Labor, Commerce committee that will tell you when their meetings are and what bills will be discussed. Usually only 2 a week, when they meet they set or amend the next couple meetings.

Steve

9

WA guys, NACHI needs your help-
please post a list here of any / all state legislators that should hear from NACHI, with their contact info, incl email addresses - ASAP!

Thanks-

Russ

10

I object to the proposed legislation, as it stands, for these reasons:

Section 1- If this is in the Public’s interest, why is E&O insurance not mentioned?

Section 4.J - Requires WA state licensing of out-of-state Home Inspectors to work in WA

Section 5.3 - reference to ASHI

Section 7.1.A - reference to ASHI

Section 9 would prohibit Idaho home Inspectors from working in WA, as the state of Idaho does not have a comparable registration law. Does this infringe upon Free Trade?

Section 12.2 - Why Appraiser, Realtor, etc on the Board?

Section 20.6 - Cannot include self-laudatory advertising? * ("I’m the best home Inspector you can hire, because . . . ")*

I’m not experienced in this sort of stuff, nor am I versed in legalese. I sure would like to see Joe Ferry’s take on this, before I put my foot in mouth as a NACHI member responding to Washington legislators . . .

Russ

11

*I read with great interest the proposed legislation for the certification of *
*HI in WA and I am wondering when and if it will be happening here in ID. My *
*concern as you have pointed out is that not any one association be able to *
*tag their name on it as a self promoting measure as ASHI seems to be able to *consistently do.

Mark Goodman
Good Home Inspections LLC
PO Box 1431
Boise, ID 83701
p 208 869 9173
f 208345 1121
*e *goodinspect@msn.com