Meeting Public Comments

Robert Ritzer [Toms Plumbing & Heating LLC]

I would like to address some problems I see with this bill after being in business for over 35 years. If the Plumbing board intends to enforce this proposed bill, Iowa rules state that only licensed personnel may do plumbing work in Iowa. The numbers that are licensed in the state currently, is very small to population comparison and this will be making people wait a long time to get work done. The bill also exempts all farms and farmers for being permitted and inspected. In my opinion it should be state wide and equal to all people. This bill will also drastically increase the the cost to people having work done and the time it takes to do the jobs. With the increase of cost and government red tape people will start trying doing it themselves and cause more of a safety issue. With this bill there is no mentioning of the state keeping track of goods sold at big box stores and or wholesale houses, so its up to licensed people to turn in people doing it themselves or other non licensed people? Also will the board require all counties and cities who issue building permits to be turned in to the state to see who did or did not get a permit or will this bill only go after the licensed people in the state. We are all suppose to be licensed and know what we are doing and are required to have proof of insurance so why this bill? If the state gets money for a service then the state will have liability issues as well? Whatever this bill is trying to fix please talk to some rural plumbers and other small town area people, other than union places. Last ,as for my area we have allot of resorts, and this bill will end up costing them allot of money and down time as we may need to change 3 water heaters and many ac units a week , the inspector will be busy. With this bill it says that you may not change these items out until you get a permit and can not use these items until inspected , resorts will take a beating as well as people waiting for a furnace in winter, or you will have to rewrite this bill to help that situation.The plumbing board can not make these rules less but can make them more with no one to answer too,will give them to much power. This is just some of the problems I see with this bill any questions you may have, please call and I would be happy to talk to you. Thank you for your time Rob