ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area CA Certification- Update

I think this sums up my additude about it.... (After many ranting letters and phone calls)

(Not linked from my overtly political site... Moderators here get upset if I link anything here to it. And have agreed not to.)

I went to a few public meetings as a fly on the wall early on, and my general opinion of the DAS was formed then. And I cant even think of how to strip the politics off of that opinion... So, ahhhh....

From the very inception of this law it has been steeped in politics, still is, and I think right after the New Year, it will be more than ever. (There are several suits on right now, and I expect there will be many more in the next year.) IMO the controvery will continue until everyone is appeased in some way. So far this topic hasn't really hit home in the real world of the bussiness end as of yet. And who knows what will happen there.

The law itself may be changed in legilation? Who knows?
AB 537

frankg, I actually did not take the FLST test because I HATE working on Fire Alarms. Ones that are properly engineered aren't that bad, but are few and far between. IMO they should be worked on by only qualified personel, who specialize in them. And, I have it from the rumor mill, (Meaning I called the DAS and asked a question, a good source for bad information.) that although the General classification generaly covers all in the NEC, it was intended that the FLST classification was seperate on it's own. Which is why you can apply for both.... (If you look closely at the list of persons with an F at the end, you'll notice many have both an F, and a G for the same person, as it was interpited as being seperate for a while.) In the future I expect there to be some clarification on this. But in the mean time, many are seeing the General Classification as all encompassing, and it may even stay that way. The vaguaries of the language of this law are interpted many different ways, and the interpitations have a tendancy to change. In one of the proposals for changes in this law, you'll also note that NICET training was added to be an experiance qualifier for the FLST classification, but still shows the words "any electrical system" in the General classification.

For instance Scott and I were in the chat room the other day, talking about how we have both read this law up and down a few hundred times over the years it has been out, and not have the language of the law pretaining to BARRING employers from employing appretices if found to having un-certified employees stick out at us. Although it has been there for a few years, since AB1087. It's now only coming to light that that is how it is being interpited as....

Trumpy, there are still many that are still completely in the dark as to what is going on... I put up flyers, and often leave cards with a link to my site at supply houses, and on trucks in SF. And in my travels around town I often talk directly to people about this law. Even, called companies out of the phone book... Many small mom and pop type shops have no idea. Even mid-sized shops have heard about it, but did not know it was going though in a few weeks. Recently I was looking to, and did change jobs. I interviewed with a few companies that did not know... Scott has mentioned that there are ads for electricians with 2 years experiance in his area, and I have noticed the same here in my area. So, I feel this is going to be a shock to many small shops, that just go about thier daily biz, and aren't members of industry associations, or keen enough to keep thier ear to the ground. Or, seeing posts like this here on ECN and Mike Holts site.

Who knows, the DAS may even collapse under its own weight January 2, 2006


[This message has been edited by e57 (edited 12-18-2005).]