What Happened to our Unlicensed Plumber Bill SB6476?
Senate Bill SB 6476 Unlicensed Plumbers was thrown under the bus in the senate rules committee on February 14, 2012
The reason? Poor support from licensed plumbers and consumers was the most obvious reason.
It didn't help that the builders, general contractors and HVAC lobbys opposed the bill (Can you guess why they were opposed?)
- Washington State HVAC/R Association (Lobbyist) Opposed
- BIAW Building Association of Washington (Lobbyist Builders) Opposed
- ABC Association of Builders and Contractors (Lobbyist Builders) Opposed
It is too bad as the bill would have made calling a plumber a lot less of a scary experience for the homeowner and the plumbers wouldn't have had to compete with fake plumbers that are lying cheating and falsely advertising to the public.
There are two kinds of plumber companies out there: real plumbers and pretend plumbers. What kind do we want?
The bill SSB 6476 in a nutshell:
- Only plumbing contractors can advertise plumbing services
- Plumbing contractors must have at least 1 plumber
- Plumber license# must be on invoices
- Repeat violators can be prosecuted for false advertising
- Repeat violators books subject to audit
- Violation fines go up 200% to $5000
Sign the badplumber guestbook so we can get organised for next years legislation. Do it NOW (please)
- Homeowners need to sign up and give us some ammuition regarding their bad experiences with hustlers masquading as legitimate.
- Licensed plumbers and legitimate plumbing contractors need to sign up and help us get rid of the fraud that is killing our trade
In the meantime... Ask to see the plumber license that every plumber is required to have in his possession when working. Don't pay him if he hasn't got one!
