Residential Contractor Licensing Study Passes Committee

The House Commerce & Labor Committee held a public hearing today on HB 3349. This bill requires a “sunrise review” on “the need for regulation of contractors involved in the repair, alteration, or construction of single-family homes.” (House committee bill analysis) The report would be due to the legislature by October 1, 2008.

Later in the hearing, the committee passed the bill.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Mark Ericks (D-1, Bothell) in response to increasing legislative efforts to deal with problems in the residential construction markets. There have been a series of bills and hearings focusing on different ways to address concerns about poor quality of construction on single-family residences.

The AIA/WA supports HB 3349 as a good first step to identifying what problems actually exist in single-family construction and if contractor licensing might improve the quality of construction services.

You can watch or listen to the hearing on www.tvw.org. Either search for the bill number or the committee name.