Comments

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Ken,

    The Florida Electrical Contractors Licensing Board, during their regular meetings held around the state, hold the disciplinary hearings against contractors that have violated the law is some way. Contractors that are not up on charges can attend and actually receive CE's toward their license renewal. Through the years I have attended several of these hearings and the interesting part is that the majority of the cases are against contractors that have hired out their license and the company they were qualifying did something illegal causing the license holder to appear in front of the Board. I have seen penalties from hefty fines to suspension and probation to revocation of these contractors licenses. When a contractor goes in front of the Board for approval to qualify a company, they are asked on numerous occasions if in fact they, the contractor, realize and understand that they are personally and financially responsible for the actions of the company they are seeking to qualify. In all cases the answer is yes, yes, yes. Yet, when they are up in front of the disciplinary review Board, even though they had been taking that monthly check for hiring out their license, they seem to have forgotten that they agreed to be personally responsible when the license was approved. The very next session of the meeting is to approve new licenses for qualifying a company. What is interesting is that after watching contractor after contractor parade in front of the Board and walk out with tears in their eyes and  hearing the possible consequences, 20-30 contractors stand up, meeting after meeting, to put their licenses and livelihoods on the line.  It may be the second, third or more entities that they are trying to qualify. In many cases, this has become their means of income rather than actually working for a living. Don't they realize that if the owner of the company, they are going to qualify, was competent in the field and/or running a successful business could probably get a license themselves. Consequences for someones actions don't weight as much when the responsibility for the action is that of others. If the consequences are to great, the company simply goes out and hires another license. The license holder is sitting at home wondering how to pay the fines, cannot work due to suspension, or is out of the field forever due to revocation. The company continues on without skipping a beat.  Risk a lot to gain a little may not be the smart move but I guess the almighty dollar out weights common sense. If someone chooses to qualify another company, they better have a great working relationship and involvement with that company and not just sit back collecting checks.

Bob Worthy CPP

President

Secur Technologies, Inc.

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Ken,    

    As a member of the Florida Electrical Contracting Licensing Board, your explanation is well stated.  A License holder is responsible for every job and phase of the business of the company they are licensing.  With a violation of a 2nd business occurs it would impact the individuals license and would have carry over and all business that this individual licenses is involved with.

Kenneth Hoffmann

DynaFire, Inc

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Ken,

    Just a reminder, in Florida you can qualify more than 1 company.  There are many license holders who do this.  To their surprise, if one of the companies that they qualify commits either a serious violation, or just a bunch of small violations, the license can be suspended or revoked.  If this happens ALL of the licenses held by that qualifier are affected and ALL of the qualified businesses would have to close or immediately find a new qualifier.  You put your livelyhood at risk for a few hundred bucks a month from that guy who can't get his own license.

Mike Fletcher

Heeth LLC

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Ken

    Simply stated in Illinois  the Statutes, 225 ILCS 447 state you can NOT be the "Licensee in Charge" of two (2) Alarm (Security guard or Detective ) agencies.

Alan R. ENGEL

Security - Investigation Consultant

State of Illinois

Sr. Enforcement Investigator (Ret.)

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Response:

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    It's not surprising that we heard from companies in Florida.  That state takes its license very seriously and obviously follows up with compliance enforcement.  Other states do as well. 

    Not all states prohibit a qualifier from qualifying for more than one company.  New York for example does permit a qualifer for more than one company.  That qualifier would of course be responsible for the alarm operation at all companies, and if one company causes the license to be in jeapardy then all companies would be affected.