State delays licensing rule for plumbers

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Wisconsin lawmakers have postponed instituting a change to the state’s plumbing-licensing rules, meaning opponents have an additional 30 days to make a case.

State Sen. Jerry Petrowski, R-Marathon, and Rep. John Murtha, R-Baldwin, the chairmen of committees that are considering the proposed change, had letters sent Wednesday asking for the extension. Without that request, Friday would have been the effective date for the new rule, which would let parties other than state government write and give the tests used to bestow plumbing licenses on those who install water softeners, heaters and similar devices.

The biggest supporter of the proposal has been the Water Quality Association of Wisconsin. On its website, the group has expressed interest in letting its national affiliate train workers for an exam that, with the blessing of the state, later could be administered by the same national group.

Opponents have argued such third-party testing would result in exams that are watered down to make them easier to pass. For the past month, critics have been trying unsuccessfully to get a hearing before the two committees assigned the rule: the Senate Committee on Transportation, of which Petrowski is the chairman, and the Assembly Committee on Housing and Real Estate, of which Murtha is the chairman.

Derek Punches, who works in Petrowski’s office and is the clerk of the transportation committee, said there is a chance the deadline extension will result in a public hearing but said Petrowski is more interested in making sure committee members are comfortable with how the proposal has moved through the state Capitol.

As the original deadline for the rule change approached, Punches said, there was a marked increase in the number of people calling the offices of Petrowski and his colleagues to express opposition. Punches said some committee members want more time to learn if the criticism is well-grounded.

“I think it raised questions,” Punches said, “rather than doubts.”

Proponents of the rule meanwhile have mounted their own campaign. The Water Quality Association of Wisconsin’s website contains a note encouraging members to download and fill out a postcard expressing support for the rule change.

Jim Luedtke, association president and owner of Culligan Water Conditioning of Rice Lake, WI, said he considers the deadline extension to be a “bump in the road” and expects his side will prevail. He said the rule change is meant to help businesses that, like his, have struggled to find workers who can obtain the licensing required to work in the water-quality industry.

At a minimum, those who want to have a job installing water softeners must get what is known as a journeyman plumber’s restricted-appliance license. The trouble, Luedtke said, is that aspirants must pass an exam with questions that have little to do with water quality.

Among the test sections that have been particularly difficult for his former employees, Luedtke said, have been those concerning pipe-sizing. He said he had to let three employees go after they could not pass the exam in three or four attempts.

He now has master plumbers, who, he said, can do more types of work, and usually at a higher quality, but also demand more pay.

“But some of the things the exam requires, our guys won’t ever do in their whole professional career,” Luedtke said. “The test is so heavily weighted on this pipe-sizing issue.”

Opponents, though, have argued that no matter what a holder of a journeyman plumber’s restricted-appliance licenses intends to do, the credential lets that person do much more than install water softeners.

Jeff Beiriger, executive director of the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Wisconsin Association, said he is concerned that turning testing over to a group such as the Water Quality Association would result in exams that qualify someone to do work far outside the particular trade to which the questions were tailored.

What’s more, Beiriger said, there are some who say adopting the proposed plumbing rule could open the door to the use of third-party testing for other trades. He said there may be a place for more widespread use of the testing system, particularly if it gives state officials more time for inspections and other work of importance to the construction industry.

But Beiriger said he and those he represents always look askance at proposals that would allow particular industry groups to write and administer the same exam.

“What’s that do,” he said, “to the integrity of the testing process?”

The state Department of Safety and Professional Services, which oversees licensing policies, now allows third-party testing for certain licenses but specifies which group can write and give the exams. Nurses, for instance, must take the National Council Licensure Examination, which is produced by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.

Wisconsin, though, has no testing system that lets any third party write an exam that later can be administered by the same party. Hannah Zillmer, a DSPS spokeswoman, declined to comment on whether the state is pursuing more of that type of third-party testing, only saying that officials are devoting their attention to the proposed plumbing rules.

Punches said many in the state Capitol have the same priority for the time being. But he also said the journeyman plumber’s restricted-appliance license, which, according to DSPS, went to 13 people in 2013, provides a good opportunity to learn what third-party testing might do for other trades.

“It’s a bit of a trial run,” Punches said. Follow @TDR_WLJDan