Measure on building contractors clears Senate

BOISE – Legislation to require the registration and insurance of building contractors was given final approval by the state Senate on Tuesday and is on its way to the governor’s desk – a historic win for a concept that’s been repeatedly turned back in the Idaho Legislature for decades.

Every North Idaho senator voted for HB 163, which was scaled down from earlier, farther-reaching bills to license building contractors.

Requiring contractors to register and carry workers’ compensation and liability insurance would help Idaho residents know they’re dealing with legitimate professionals, said Sen. Dick Compton, R-Coeur d’Alene.

“The public is entitled to know to the best of our ability that those people are at least registered, they haven’t been kicked out of some other state, they have workers’ compensation insurance,” Compton said.

The states surrounding Idaho all require building contractors to be licensed, and backers of the legislation said Idaho has become a magnet for unscrupulous operators fleeing other states.

“It’s become a feeding frenzy” in Kootenai County, Compton said.

“With Washington and Montana right there, people come in looking to make a quick profit all the time.”

But Senate President Pro Tem Bob Geddes, of Soda Springs, argued that the bill was “another example of government stepping in, trying to manage us and do those things that we could in fact do for ourselves.”

The bill was voted out of Senate 23-11 after a lengthy debate on the line between protecting consumers and passing laws that restrict free enterprise and private property rights.

Republican Sen. Hal Bunderson, of Meridian, discounted claims that the requirement would impede private property rights.

“This bill is about those who are involved in the trade of business, not people who do some repair work on their personal residence,” Bunderson said.

“The idea that there’s some enforcer of the law watching every homeowner, in the event they’re going to pound a nail, they’re going to be on top of them – ridiculous.”

Other forms of the bill have been brought to the Statehouse for the past four decades and failed. That’s despite the fact that subcontractors, such as electricians and plumbers, have been required to have a license for many years. Idaho even requires barbers to be licensed.

The bill would require contractors to pay $150 to register with the state, have adequate workers’ compensation insurance and carry $300,000 in liability insurance.

It also would allow the state to reject the registration of contractors who prove to be incompetent, dishonest or unprincipled.

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne has not indicated any opposition to the legislation, which passed the House 43-27 earlier this month.

Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, urged support for the bill.

“We don’t live in the same era as our fathers did,” she told the Senate. “We need to protect the little guy.”