RD317 - Evaluation of Continuing Education Requirements for Tradesmen Pursuant to Chapter 738 of the 2013 Reconvened Session


Executive Summary:
The Board for Contractors evaluated continuing education requirements for tradesmen—specifically, current prerequisites for license renewal as well as proposed regulatory action to eliminate the government mandate. Ultimately, the Board’s assessment raises larger policy questions as to whether existing state regulatory approaches regarding continued competency are sufficient to protect the public’s health, safety, and welfare from trade-related incompetence.

The Board’s mission is to protect the public while regulating contractors and tradesmen in the least intrusive, least burdensome and most efficient manner. In so doing, the Board is reluctant to endorse continued imposition of a mandate on its licensees—especially one involving additional cost obligation—without evidence of measurable, beneficial results. In the case of tradesmen continuing education, the Board’s data-driven review does not indicate a nominal disciplinary case decrease justifies the comparatively significant financial burden on individual tradesmen.