Call to Order and Roll Call
The 1st meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Licensing and Occupations was held on Friday, June 11, 2010, at 10:00 AM, in Room 129 of the Capitol Annex. Senator Gary Tapp, Chair, called the meeting to order, and the secretary called the roll.
Present were:
Members: Senator Gary Tapp, Co-Chair; Representative Dennis Keene, Co-Chair; Senators Tom Buford, Julian M. Carroll, Perry B. Clark, Carroll Gibson, Denise Harper Angel, John Schickel, Dan "Malano" Seum, Kathy W. Stein, Damon Thayer, and Robin L. Webb; Representatives Larry Clark, Ron Crimm, Tim Firkins, David Floyd, Dennis Horlander, Adam Koenig, Reginald Meeks, Charles Miller, David Osborne, Darryl T. Owens, Ruth Ann Palumbo, Carl Rollins II, Sal Santoro, Arnold Simpson, and Ron Weston.
Guests: Richard Moloney, Commissioner, Tim House Director of the Division of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning, and Dawn Bellis, General Counsel, Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction; Henry Lackey, Commissioner, and Mary Hammons, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Charitable Gaming.
LRC Staff: Tom Hewlett, Bryce Amburgey, Michel Sanderson, Carrie Klaber, and Susan Cunningham.
Approval of minutes from November 13, 2009, meeting.
There was a motion from Representative Keene, seconded by Representative Weston and the minutes were adopted by voice vote.
Update on 07RS SB10 – AN ACT relating to Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning and
making an appropriation therefor, sponsored by Senators Gary Tapp and David Boswell
Richard Moloney, Commissioner of the Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction told the committee that when Senate Bill 10 was passed in the 2007 regular session there were no funds provided with which to operate the program; however Secretary Robert Vance, of the Public Protection Cabinet and Secretary Peters of the Energy and Environmental Cabinet worked to get federal stimulus money to hire staff and start up the new division. Department attorneys have been working on administrative regulations and all the regulations have been approved with the exception of the local jurisdictions regulation. Tim House, Acting Director of the Division of Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) said the division met criteria for federal stimulus money for energy conservation and was therefore awarded a grant for approximately $1.2 million to implement Senate Bill 10.
Mr. House went on to say his goal was to have the HVAC division operational by January 1, 2011. To have the division fully operational will require 40 offices state-wide to provide public access to inspectors. This will differ from the plumbing inspectors because plumbing inspectors work out of the county health departments. HVAC hopes to rent offices from state agencies that have space available. The number of field inspectors will have to be increased from 11 to 13 and interviews have been set to fill those positions by July 16. Once all inspectors have been hired there will be a six week training course for all inspectors. There will also be a two to four hour presentation that will be distributed state-wide for contractors and the public. It will also be used for continuing education. Currently, many contractors are not performing jobs according to code because they are uninformed. Mr. House said administrative staff will also have to be increased. Currently there is only one administrative person on staff.
In offices staffed by the HVAC division an online permitting system is going to be put into place allowing individuals to apply for a permit over the internet. This is a time saving measure for contractors who work in more than one county. Representative Koenig asked why the use of computer permitting across the state was not being mandated. Mr. House said many local jurisdictions do not have permitting systems compatible with the state computer system.
Under Senate Bill 10, beginning July 1, local jurisdictions that already have a program may continue the program if they contract with the HVAC board. In response to a question from Senator Gibson Mr. House said the local government currently reimburses inspectors who work for the local jurisdiction inspection programs.
Mr. House added that some HVAC department inspectors will be assigned multiple county jurisdictions depending on population density and the extent of state-owned properties in a jurisdiction. In response to a question from Representative Floyd Commissioner Moloney said future budgetary needs of the division will be met by license fees.
Senator Tapp commented that it was important to put this program in place. He said having a home HVAC system properly installed and inspected will make a significant difference in energy use, thus saving energy and money.
Update relating to the Department of Charitable Gaming
Henry Lackey, Commissioner of the Department of Charitable Gaming said that one of the goals of the department is to help charities reduce the amount paper work. He said the number one complaint is too much paper work. To find a way to have a better inventory control system with less paperwork a Request for Proposal (RFP) was sent out to develop an automated system. However, due to Kentucky Law, the department was unable to communicate specifics about the RFP to the charities, facilities, distributors and manufacturers. He said this led to a lot of speculation and concern. Kentucky is the first state to request any type of inventory control system. Software technology is available; however, funding for this software was not available, so this approach has been dropped.
Mr. Lackey said the department is now exploring a concept where inventory is tracked at the distributor/manufacturer level. This does not change the reporting requirements for the charities, nor will it change the way games are currently being operated. The department is aware that the current system is cumbersome and will continue to look at ways to alleviate that burden. The department anticipates the first phase of the new system will cost about $55,000 thousand and will be in place in approximately six months. Meetings are ongoing with charities, distributors and manufacturers to gather information in order to form a proposal to bring to the legislature, although a plan has been developed by Robin Birdsell, a department auditor, that could be put into place without the need for any legislative action.
Marty Hammons, deputy commissioner for the department, told committee members that the department has also used the experience of Minnesota, the number one state in the nation in gross receipts, as well as input from distributors on tracking sales. He said these changes come with some cost and he noted the department presently does not have sufficient funding to implement the full system.
He added that at this time the department does not plan to have a legislative package for the 2011 Regular Session.
Senator Tapp asked how the charities gross receipts are for this year in comparison with last year or even the year before. Commissioner Lackey said two years ago receipts were approximately one-half billion dollars, unfortunately receipts are down to about $470,000,000, adding that the department is seeing a 5 percent decline from year to year.
In response to a question from Representative Keene Commissioner Lackey said there are16 pull-tab vendors doing business in the Commonwealth.
In response to a question from Representative Owens Commissioner Lackey said that charitable games are required by KRS 238.536(1) to return a certain percentage of revenue to the charity. Approximately 80 percent of gross receipts are returned to the players in the form of winning prizes. Of the amount remaining, at least 40 percent must go to the charity. The rest of the money may go to defray the cost of supplies, rent, and other expenses.
There being no further business to come before the committee the meeting was adjourned at 10:35 a.m.