Bill Description: House Bill 768 would impose new regulations and registration requirements on contractors.
Rating: -2
Does it give government any new, additional, or expanded power to prohibit, restrict, or regulate activities in the free market? Conversely, does it eliminate or reduce government intervention in the market?
House Bill 768 would amend sections 54-5210, 54-5215, and 54-5216, Idaho Code, related to contractor registration.
Among other regulations that would be imposed by the bill, contractors would be required to “provide necessary documents”; “promptly answer all reasonable investigative questions asked by the board”; and “promptly make available to the board all of the documents that a contractor is required to disclose to owners and purchasers of residential real property pursuant to section 45-525, Idaho Code.”
The bill says, “Such documents shall be made available at the contractor’s cost and at the location and in the manner requested by the board.”
The bill would newly empower the board to “refuse to renew” a registration and expand the scope of the current $1,000 civil penalty to apply “per violation.”
The board would be allowed to “prohibit any individual associated with a registration from registering as a contractor under a different name after the registered individual has had registration revoked; or three (3) or more formal discipline actions within five (5) years.”
The board would also be able to “require successful completion of a training course adopted by the board” as a form of discipline.
(-1)
Does it increase barriers to entry into the market? Examples include occupational licensure, the minimum wage, and restrictions on home businesses. Conversely, does it remove barriers to entry into the market?
Among other requirements that would be imposed by House Bill 768, an applicant for registration as a contractor would be newly required to provide a physical address, both for the business itself and for “each principal, member, partner, shareholder, or any other person claiming an ownership interest in the business entity.
Additionally, “any business doing business under an assumed name shall provide satisfactory proof of having legally filed a certificate of assumed name with the Idaho secretary of state.”
Applicants would also be newly required to list a “designated natural person to act as the individual responsible for compliance with the law and rules applicable to the registration” and to provide “a properly executed irrevocable consent to service of process, applicable only to matters involving the registration, in the manner and form prescribed by the board.”
(-1)
