vs. ) CASE NO. 79-1253
Respondent. )
Pursuant to notice, the Division of Administrative Hearings, by its duly designated Hearing Officer, K. N. Ayers, held a consolidated public hearing in the above styled case with Case 79-114 SR involving the same parties and the same factual issues on 20 September 1979. A separate order on the rule challenge has been issued this date.
For Respondent: Patricia R. Gleason, Esquire
10 June 1979, Winfred Allen Infinger and Johnson Controls, Inc., Petitioners, dispute the Florida Electrical Contractors Licensing Board's, Respondent, determination that Johnson Controls, Inc. is not qualified for licensure because the application did not disclose petitioner's services are "unlimited in the Electrical Field."
At the hearing, three witnesses were called by Petitioners, one witness was called by Respondent, and eight exhibits were admitted into evidence.
No issue was raised regarding the lack of training and experience of Winfred A. Infinger to serve as the qualifying agent of Johnson Controls in this application. The sole issue presented was whether Johnson Controls, Inc. is qualified to hold a Florida electrical contractor's license.
Johnson Controls, Inc., Petitioner, is a foreign corporation licensed to do business in Florida. It maintains offices in Jacksonville, Tampa, and Miami, employs sixty to eighty employees in this state and conducts business throughout Florida. It holds licenses in twenty-three separate Florida counties and municipalities.
Petitioner is a multi-million dollar corporation licensed to do business in forty-nine of the fifty states. It engages in the business of manufacturing electrical components and constructing, installing, and servicing electrical control systems and other phases of electrical contracting work.
On November 16, 1978, Petitioner filed with the Florida Electrical Contractors' Licensing Board (Board or Respondent) its application for licensure naming Wilfred Allen Infinger as qualifying agent.
Winfred Allen Infinger holds a B.E. degree in technology and construction and a journeyman's electrician license in Pinellas County. He has experience in all phases of electrical contracting work and is fully qualified to serve as qualifying agent of Johnson Controls.
On December 5, 1978, the Board returned the application requesting additional information relating to Johnson Control's financial statement and credit standing.
On June 29, 1979, Johnson Controls refiled its application including additional financial information.
On March 14, 1979, the Board advised Petitioners that the application would be reviewed by the application committee, thereby acknowledging receipt of a complete application.
By letter of 8 May 1978, the Board advised applicants that it found in the application insufficient evidence to qualify Johnson Controls to sit for the examination because:
Your application failed to meet the qualifications as that of a Florida licensed electrical contractor (468.181(5)) whose services are unlimited in the Electrical Field. The review of your application reflects that Johnson Controls, Inc. is a specialty contractor and presently Florida Statutes, Chapter 468, Part VII does not provide for a licensure of specialty contractors.
Thereafter this petition and the petition in Case 79-1145R were filed.
Johnson Controls' primary interest in the electrical contracting field involves wiring for temperature and humidity controls, communications and protective systems, and maintenance and repair of these systems.
During the period from December 1976 to September 1978, included in Petitioner's application showing type of work performed, twenty-six contracts were listed varying from $5,000 to $300,000 in which Johnson Controls was subcontractor. Although not apparent on the face of the application, most of
these subcontracts involved the installation of temperature control equipment and various low-voltage control equipment for life safety systems such as fire alarms and smoke detectors, security, and energy consumption.
In the construction and installation of control systems, Johnson Controls performs design work, wires control systems by connecting the various components, installs sensors, motors, conduit, raceways, panels, switches, circuit breakers and power wiring.
Although Johnson Controls normally works on voltage no higher than the
440 volt range, it has performed work on high voltage systems in excess of 13,000 volts. In addition, it has wired entire buildings, both industrial and residential, including phase balancing of the circuits.
Control wiring is generally considered more complicated, therefore requiring a higher degree of skill, than most residential wiring.
Commencing in 1973, Johnson Controls has filed five applications for licensure, including the present application, and all have been denied by the Board.
Although the Board denied Johnson Controls' latest application on the grounds that the work it performs was not "unlimited", at the same time the applications of Brown and Root, Inc. and Bechtel Power Corporation were approved. Both of the latter companies are large international contractors whose only work in Florida involves electrical power plant installations.
Holding local licenses allows Petitioners to enter into any electrical contract for the area in which licensed. However, if Petitioner is called upon to bid on work in an area in which it is not licensed, it must rely upon a local electrical contractor to perform the work. If the applied for license was granted, Petitioner would be able to bid and work statewide and could also cease paying annual renewal fees for the twenty-three local licenses it now holds.
Johnson Controls is financially capable of performing unlimited services in the electrical field. Winfred A. Infinger is qualified by training and experience to serve as qualifying agent for a Florida electrical contractor.
CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
The Division of Administrative Hearings has jurisdiction over the parties and subject matter of these proceedings.
Section 468.180, Florida Statutes, in setting forth the purpose of the Electrical Contractors Licensing law provides:
It is hereby declared to be the public policy of the state that in order to safeguard the life, health, property, and the public welfare of its citizens, the business of electrical contracting is a matter affecting the public interest, and any person desiring to obtain a certificate to engage in the business as herein defined on a statewide basis shall be required to establish his competency and qualifications to be certified as herein provided.
Section 468.181(5), Florida Statutes, provides:
"Florida licensed electrical contractor" or "contractor" means one whose services are unlimited in the electrical trade field and who has the experience, knowledge, and skill to install, repair, alter, add to, or design, when not prohibited by law, electrical wiring, fixtures, appliances, apparatus, raceways, conduits or any part thereof, which generates, transmits, transforms or utilizes electrical energy in any form for light, heat, power, or communication, including the electrical installations and systems within plants and substations, all in such manner as to comply with all plans, specifications, codes, laws, and regulations applicable. Such contractors shall have a qualifying agent. The scope of such work shall apply to private and public property, and shall include any excavation and paving work incidental to, and shall include the work of all specialty electrical contractors. However, such contractors shall subcontract the work of any other craft for which an examination for a certificate of competency or registration or a license is required, unless such contractor holds a certificate of competency or registration or license for the respective trade category as required by the appropriate local authority.
The term means any person, firm, or corporation that engages in the business of electrical contracting under express or implied contract or that undertakes or offers to undertake or purports to have the capacity to undertake or submits a bid to or does himself or by and through others engage in the business of electrical contracting, and who holds a certificate of competency provided by this part. An owner-builder as set forth
herein or a person who only furnishes material, supplies, or equipment without fabricating
them into or consuming them in a performance of the work of a contractor, or any person who engages in the activities herein regulated as an employee with wages as his sole compensation, shall not be considered as a contractor.
This provision regarding "one whose services are unlimited in the electrical trade field" is further amplified by the Respondent's rules establishing requirements for certification. Rule 21GG-2.01, Florida Administrative Code, provides in pertinent part:
Certification by Examination-
All applicants shall submit the completed
application form, together with all supporting data and the required fee to the board's office at least three (3) months prior to the date
the applicant desires its proposed qualifying agent to take the examination. In order to
assist the board in determining the qualifications of the applicant and the qualifications of the proposed qualifying agent, to be an electrical contractor whose services are unlimited in the electrical trade field, the applicant shall be accompanied by the following:
A completed list of contracts by the bosiness [sic] organization underway at the time of filing, along with a representative list of contracts completed in the three (3) years immediately preceding the date of filing. The list shall include the description of each job, the dollar value, location, owner, architect and/or engineer, general contractor, and such other information as the board may require to enable a complete and thorough
investigation to be conducted. (Emphasis added)
It is quite obvious that the use of the word "unlimited" in the statutory provision above was not intended to have the infinite connotation associated with the definition of "unlimited"; otherwise, only very large business organizations could qualify. It would appear likely that very few Florida licensed contractors would bid on a contract including the installation of the electrical generating equipment, power grids, switches, circuit breakers, transformers and all other accessories incident to the installation of a large electrical power generating plant. Was this the reason the applications of Brown and Root, Inc. and Bechtel Power Corporation for a Florida electrical contractors license were approved at the same time Johnson Controls' application was disapproved, although the evidence of jobs performed submitted by Brown and Root and Bechtel was limited to electrical power plant installations and did not indicate they were or would be a a Florida contractor whose services are unlimited in the electrical field?
As the term "unlimited" is used in the regulation above quoted, it goes to the qualifications of the applicant and not to the services he performs. Those regulations contemplate the Board making a determination whether the applicant is qualified to render services which are unlimited in the electrical trade field. Using that definition, the Board rightly found both Brown and Root and Bechtel qualified to be "electrical contractors whose services are unlimited in the electrical trade field."
Applying the same criteria to Johnson Controls, Inc. and considering all the evidence submitted regarding jobs performed, financial strength, and qualifications of the proposed qualifying agent, they too are qualified to render services which are unlimited in the electrical trade field.
The electrical contractors licensing law is one enacted pursuant to the police powers of the state. As stated in Section 468.180, Florida Statutes, above quoted, the purpose of this licensing law is to safeguard the health, property and welfare of the public. To do this it is necessary the licensee be qualified to render services which are unlimited in the electrical trade field and not simply to provide services which are unlimited in the electrical trade
field. The fact that Brown and Root for example, or the Petitioner for that matter, does not normally provide residential electrical services in Florida does not detract from their qualifications to provide such service. So long as the applicant is qualified to provide services which are unlimited in the electrical trade field, the applicant is qualified to be a Florida licensed electrical contractor.
This is the standard adopted by Rule 21GG-2.01, Florida Administrative Code, and is the proper interpretation of the standard of qualification established by Section 468.181(5).
Here the Respondent apparently failed to follow its own standards in ruling on Petitioner's qualification for licensure as an electrical contractor. As noted above, the purpose of this licensing law is to safeguard the residents
- not to protect the licensed electrical contractors from competition. The interpretation proposed by Respondent in this case, despite Rule 21GG-2.01, would lead to the conclusion that the Respondent is inconsistent in its treatment of applicants or the denial of Petitioner's application was motivated more to protect existing contractors than to protect the public from an unqualified contractor.
From the foregoing it is concluded that Johnson Controls, Inc. and Winfred A. Infinger are qualified to be licensed as electrical contractors whose services are unlimited in the electrical trade field. It is therefore
RECOMMENDED that the applications of Johnson Controls, Inc., with Winfred Allen Infinger as qualifying agent, be approved for Infinger to sit for the examination for licensure as a Florida electrical contractor.
Entered this 24th day of October, 1979, in Tallahassee, Florida.
K. N. AYERS, Hearing Officer Division of Administrative Hearings Room 101, Collins Building Tallahassee, Florida 32301
Patricia R. Gleason, Esquire Assistant Attorney General Department of Legal Affairs The Capitol
Scharf, Barkin, Frye, and O'Neill, P.A.
