The Florida Senate

489.117  Registration; specialty contractors.--

(1)(a)  Any person engaged in the business of a contractor in the state shall be registered in the proper classification, unless he or she is certified. Any person entering the business of a contractor shall be registered prior to engaging in business as a contractor, unless he or she is certified. To be initially registered, the applicant shall submit the required fee and file evidence, in a form provided by the department, of holding a current local occupational license required by any municipality, county, or development district, if any, for the type of work for which registration is desired and evidence of successful compliance with the local examination and licensing requirements, if any, in the area for which registration is desired. No examination shall be required for registration.

(b)  Registration allows the registrant to engage in contracting only in the counties, municipalities, or development districts where he or she has complied with all local licensing requirements and only for the type of work covered by the registration.

(c)  Each registrant shall report to the board each local jurisdiction and each category of registration in which the registrant holds a certificate of competency or license, or where the registrant has been granted a certificate of competency or license by reciprocal agreement, for which registration is required by this part, within 30 days after obtaining such certificate or license.

(2)  No new registration may be issued by the board after July 1, 1993, based on any certificate of competency or license for a category of contractor defined in s. 489.105(3)(a)-(o) which is issued by a municipal or county government that does not exercise disciplinary control and oversight over such locally licensed contractors, including forwarding a recommended order in each action to the board as provided in s. 489.131(7). For purposes of this subsection and s. 489.131(10), the board shall determine the adequacy of such disciplinary control by reviewing the local government's ability to process and investigate complaints and to take disciplinary action against locally licensed contractors.

(3)(a)  Upon findings of fact supporting the need therefor, the board may grant a limited nonrenewable registration to a contractor not domiciled in the state, for one project. During the period of such registration the board may require compliance with this and any other statute of the state.

(b)  The application for a temporary registration shall constitute appointment of the Department of State as an agent of the applicant for service of process in any action or proceeding against the applicant arising out of any transaction or operation connected with or incidental to the practice of contracting for which the temporary license was issued.

(4)(a)  A person holding a local license whose job scope does not substantially correspond to either the job scope of one of the contractor categories defined in s. 489.105(3)(a)-(o), or the job scope of one of the certified contractor categories previously established by board rule as of the effective date of this provision, shall not be required to register with the board to perform contracting activities within the scope of such specialty license.

(b)  A local jurisdiction may require an individual holding a local specialty contractor license in a category which pursuant to paragraph (a) does not permit registration to obtain a tracking registration from the board, provided that the board has established by rule that the activities which comprise the job scope of the local specialty contractor license involve lifesafety considerations and a significant potential danger to the consumer.

(c)  The local jurisdictions shall be responsible for providing licensure information, code violation information pursuant to s. 553.781, and disciplinary information on locally licensed individuals to the board within 30 days after licensure or any disciplinary action, and the board shall maintain such licensure and disciplinary information as is provided to them, and shall make such information available through the automated information system provided pursuant to s. 455.2286 The biennial tracking registration fee shall not exceed $40.

(d)  Neither the board nor the department assumes any responsibility for providing discipline pursuant to having provided the tracking registration. Providing discipline to such locally licensed individuals shall be the responsibility of the local jurisdiction. Failure to obtain a tracking registration shall not be considered a violation of this chapter; however, a local jurisdiction requiring such tracking registration may levy such penalties for failure to obtain the tracking registration as it chooses to provide through local ordinance.

(e)  Any person who is not required to obtain registration or certification pursuant to s. 489.105(3)(d)-(o) may perform specialty contracting services for the construction, remodeling, repair, or improvement of single-family residences, including a townhouse as defined in the Florida Building Code, without obtaining a local professional license if such person is under the supervision of a certified or registered general, building, or residential contractor. As used in this paragraph, supervision shall not be deemed to require the existence of a direct contract between the certified or registered general, building, or residential contractor and the person performing specialty contracting services.

(5)  In order to establish uniformity among the job scopes established by local jurisdictions, the board shall, by rule, establish the job scope for any licensure category registered by the board under this part. The board shall not arbitrarily limit such scopes and shall restrict the job scopes only to the minimum extent necessary to ensure uniformity.

History.--ss. 8, 17, ch. 79-200; ss. 2, 3, ch. 81-318; ss. 9, 20, 21, ch. 88-156; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 2, ch. 92-55; s. 61, ch. 92-149; s. 3, ch. 93-154; s. 12, ch. 93-166; s. 262, ch. 94-119; s. 483, ch. 97-103; s. 22, ch. 98-287; s. 1, ch. 99-254; s. 5, ch. 2003-257.