CL Rebuttal To The CDA Chamber Of Commerce Agenda 2005
[2005] The Coeur d'Alene Area Chamber of Commerce supports legislation that would regulate the building contractors industry, including:
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Building contractor registration,
Contractor bonding & licensure,
Building & contractor safety improvements, and
Industry-funded implementation, without the use of public funds.
Rationale: Financial responsibility and public safety issues in this industry are quite serious. However, the State of Idaho requires no registration, licensing or bonding of contractors, except for Public Works projects. During past legislation sessions, attempts have been made to pass comprehensive contractor licensing laws. At the end of the 1999 Legislative Session, an Interim Committee was created to study this issue during the summer and fall of 1999, and is attempting to draft legislation regulating this industry.
Events of the past years make the need for registration and licensing increasingly apparent. All states surrounding Idaho have contractor licensing laws. Given Idaho's level of building growth, Idaho has many contractors, some of whom are less than responsible. The public is paying the price through:
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shoddy workmanship;
double payment of bills (through suppliers exercising lien rights against a property owner, even though the owner may have paid the contractor); and
losses to the workman's compensation system from claims filed by uninsured workers not covered by irresponsible contractors.
REBUTTAL
- "Industry-funded implementation, without the use of public funds" -- to think that you will start a bureaucracy that is self-funded and that it will not grow into a tax-consuming monster is to be extremely naive -- twice!
- "Events of the past years make the need for registration and licensing increasingly apparent." -- What is the crisis? Do we have a sudden increase in negligent contractors? Or do we even have more fraud and neglect than States that require licensing? The answer is "no we do not." There is NO correlation between quality and licensing! There is NO correlation between honesty and licensing!
- "All states surrounding Idaho have contractor licensing laws." -- Now that is sound rational for creating more government and taxes for us. Should we also increase the cost of housing to be on par with more expensive States?
- List: "shoddy work ... double payment ... losses to workman's compensation ... " There is no difference in quality between licensed contractors and unlicensed contractors. In licensed States, you still have contractors who defraud and/or are negligent in their work. The only difference -- they are licensed! Furthermore, in States where licensing is in place people do not have an absolute guarantee the bills on their job are paid. If their contractor goes bad, a twelve thousand dollar bond doesn't stand up to a quarter million dollar bankruptcy. The bonding is very limited -- and the bonding never protects the consumer; it is only available to vendors, agencies and attorneys.
When the State licenses contractors, the honest and diligent will remain honest and diligent; the shoddy and unscrupulous will still be shoddy and unscrupulous. The key is this, as with anything else: do not be deceived by low prices, deal with people you know and trust. You see, it is our greed (to get our job done for free!) that gets us in trouble -- and then we want the government to bail us out. The government can only bail you out if it steals the money from me and my neighbors first. My friends, this is not the American way.
It is a shame that an organization dedicated to promoting commerce has taken measures to regulate enterprise and is laboring to increase civil government's control over contracts and increase its taxing authority.
The information on this page was taken from the Chamber website: www.cdachamber.com/AboutChamber/PublicPolicy2005Agenda.htm#CONTRACTOR
rebuttal by Dean Isaacson