Senate Bill No. 291
(By Senator Wiedebusch)
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[Introduced March 5, 1993; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section five, article three-b,
chapter twenty-nine of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
the licensing of electricians; and providing for licensure
of persons as electricians who attend courses at community
colleges approved by the fire marshal.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article three-b, chapter twenty-nine of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3B. SUPERVISION OF ELECTRICIANS.
§29-3B-5. Rules; applications and examinations; fees.
(a) The state fire marshal shall promulgate necessary rules
pursuant to the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this code
to implement the provisions of this article. Rules adopted by
the state fire marshal and presently in effect shall remain in
effect until and unless the state fire marshal adopts new rules,and the state fire marshal may adopt any or all of the rules
presently in effect.
(b) The state fire marshal shall prepare and arrange for the
receipt of applications from those who intend to perform
electrical work in the state of West Virginia. Such application
shall be sufficiently detailed to enable the state fire marshal
to determine the presence or absence of an applicant's
qualifications for a license of a particular class. The state
fire marshal may, if he considers it necessary, require
applicants to supply affidavits or other documents attesting to
the applicant's qualifications from past employers, other
electricians, engineers and others with knowledge of the
applicant's qualifications. The state fire marshal may make such
other inquiries as he considers necessary to determine the
qualifications of the applicant. An applicant expressly consents
to such inquiries by the state fire marshal by his application.
(c) The state fire marshal shall prepare and arrange for the
giving of examinations to all applicants for licensure. There
shall be a separate and different examination for each class of
license, appropriate in subject matter, difficulty and depth of
understanding for each class. All examinations shall be based on
and derived from the national electric code as promulgated from
time to time by the national fire protection association. A
minimum grade of eighty percent correct for all examinations is
necessary for licensure by the state fire marshal. The
examinations shall be given at least four times each year. Theplaces, dates and times of such examinations shall be made known
by public notice issued by the state fire marshal. The state
fire marshal may contract with the bureau of vocational,
technical and adult education, state department of education, to
perform such examinations.
(d) Each person desiring to take an examination shall make
written application therefor at the time designated by and on
forms prescribed by the state fire marshal. The applicant shall
specify the class of license for which he seeks licensure. The
application shall be accompanied by an examination fee of twenty-
five dollars for licenses for master electrician or journeyman
electrician, or by an examination fee of ten dollars for an
apprentice electrician license applicant or twenty-five dollars
for a specialty license. The fee is not returnable.
(e) An applicant who fails to make the required passing
score on any examination or who lacks qualifications for the
class of license desired may retake the examination or change his
application to request a license of a lesser class upon the
payment to the state fire marshal of a fee of ten dollars
together with a new application. Any reexamination may be taken
or new application may be submitted as many times as the
applicant desires, but each such examination or application
requires the payment of the additional fee of ten dollars and the
making of a new application to the state fire marshal. When the
examination is successfully passed and the requisite
qualifications are established by the applicant, the state firemarshal shall issue the appropriate license as provided above.
(f) The state fire marshal shall promulgate rules that
permit applicants to qualify for the appropriate class of license
required by this article by attending community college courses
with qualified instructors approved by the state fire marshal.
The rules promulgated by the fire marshal shall establish the
type of course, hours of instruction and qualifications of
instructors and the type of examinations to be given at the
community colleges.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that a person
may qualify to become a licensed electrician by attending
community college courses approved by the state fire marshal.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.