SECTION 1. Sections 5-20-6, 5-20-9, 5-20-17, 5-20-29, 5-20-33 and 5-20-34 of the General Laws in Chapter 5-20 entitled "Plumbers and Irrigators" are hereby amended to read as follows:

5-20-6. Board of examiners -- Composition -- Appointment of members. -- (a) A state board of plumbing examiners is created in the department of labor and training whose duty it is to supervise the operation of the division of professional regulation in an advisory capacity in promulgating any policy that is necessary to improve the operation of the division in their area of expertise. The promulgation of that policy is subject to the approval of the director of the department.

(b) (1) The board consists of eight (8) members:

(i) One is the director of labor and training, or his or her designee ex officio who shall be a non voting member; one of whom shall be a licensed plumber appointed by the director of labor and training possessing at the time of appointment for a period of five (5) years of license in full force and effect from the department of labor and training, under the provisions of this chapter, specifying those persons as a licensed master or journeyperson plumber;

(ii) Three (3) are master plumbers possessing at the time of appointment, for a period of five (5) years, a certificate of license in full force and effect from the department of labor and training of the state, under the provisions of this chapter, specifying those persons as master plumbers; and

(iii) Three (3) are journeyperson plumbers possessing at the time of appointment, for a period of ten (10) years, a certificate of license in full force and effect from the department of labor and training, under the provisions of this chapter, specifying those persons as journeyperson plumbers.

(2) All of the members of the board must be citizens of this state for at least two (2) years immediately preceding their appointment. The board shall elect from its membership a chairperson, deputy chairperson and secretary. The members of the board, except the ex officio members, are appointed as subsequently provided.

(c) The provisions of subsection (b) of this section are applicable only to appointments made by the governor after May 16, 1966.

(d) On the expiration of the term of any master plumber member or journeyperson plumber member of the board, the governor shall appoint for a term of three (3) years a master plumber member and a journeyperson plumber member having the qualifications required by this chapter to take the place of the master plumber member and the journeyperson plumber member whose term on the board has expired. That member holds office until the expiration of the term for which the member is appointed and until his or her successor has been appointed and qualified. Any vacancy which occurs in the master plumber members or journeyperson plumber members of the board from any cause shall be filled by appointment by the governor for the remainder of the unexpired term of that member.

5-20-9. Acts for which journeyperson's license required. -- No person shall engage to work as a journeyperson plumber or journeyperson irrigator or represent in any form or manner that he or she is a journeyperson plumber or journeyperson irrigator unless that person possesses and carries on his or her person at all times while engaged a certificate of license in full force and effect from the department of labor and training specifying that person as a journeyperson plumber or journeyperson irrigator employed by the properly licensed master permit holder.

5-20-17. Qualifications of journeyperson -- Application fee. -- No application for a journeyperson's license shall be filed by at the department of labor and training nor shall any applicant be permitted to take the examination for a license as a journeyperson plumber, unless:

(1) The application is accompanied by a nonrefundable application fee of thirty dollars ($30.00);

(2) The applicant shall have possessed for at least four (4) years prior to the filing of the application a certificate of registration in full force and effect from the department of labor and training of the state specifying that person as a registered apprentice plumber and the application of that applicant is accompanied with an affidavit or affidavits of his or her employer or former employers or other reasonably satisfactory evidence showing that the applicant has been actually engaged in plumbing work as an apprentice plumber in the state of Rhode Island for eight thousand (8,000) hours of on the job training during a five (5) year period which shall include the successful completion of five hundred seventy-six (576) hours of related instruction at a training program recognized by the department of labor and training or the application is accompanied with an affidavit or other reasonably satisfactory evidence showing that the applicant has been a registered student in a recognized college, university, or trade school and has pursued a course of plumbing or sanitary engineering for at least two (2) academic years, or is the recipient of an associate degree in either plumbing or sanitary engineering, and has thereafter been registered by the department of labor and training as an apprentice plumber for at least two (2) years and at all times while being employed as a registered apprentice plumber by a duly licensed master plumber in this state for a period of two (2) years or the application is accompanied by an affidavit or other reasonably satisfactory evidence showing that the applicant possesses a certificate of license, issued under the laws of another state, provided that the requirements are the same as the state specifying that person as a journeyperson plumber. The records of the hours of on the job training and the hours of related instruction should be maintained in a mutually responsible manner, through a joint effort on the part of the master plumber and the apprentice. The completed application is to be filed with the department at least fifteen (15) days prior to the examination date.

5-20-29. Subpoena of witnesses. -- The department of labor and training has power to subpoena and bring before it, the division of professional regulation, or the state board of plumbing examiners, any witness to take testimony, either orally or by deposition, or both, with the same fees and mileage and in the same manner as prescribed by law in judicial procedure in civil cases in the superior court of this state. in any proceeding authorized by law.

5-20-33. Penalties for violations. -- Any person violating any provision of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor and is subject to a fine of not less than two hundred dollars ($200) and not more than four hundred dollars ($400) shall be subject to the penalties as follows: Any person, firm, or corporation, licensed or unlicensed by the department of labor and training, division of professional regulation shall be subject to a fine of five hundred dollars ($500) for a first offense and for second and subsequent violations of this chapter is subject to a fine of not less than three hundred dollars ($300) and not more than six hundred dollars ($600) and may be imprisoned for not more than six (6) months, or both. nine hundred fifty dollars ($950).

5-20-34. Prosecution of violations. -- It is the duty of the attorney general's department to prosecute director of the department of labor and training under the recommendation of the board of examiners for plumbers to fine any person, corporation, firm, association, or partnership violating any of the provisions of this chapter upon complaint being made whether brought pursuant to section 5-20-28 or 5-20-33.

SECTION 2. Section 5-20-18 of the General Laws in Chapter 5-20 entitled "Plumbers and Irrigators" is hereby repealed.

5-20-18. Master plumber's and master irrigator's bond. -- Every person making application for a certificate of license as a master plumber or master irrigator to carry on the business of plumbing or irrigation shall furnish a bond, in the sum of three thousand dollars ($3,000) with one or more sureties, satisfactory to the department of labor and training, conditioned substantially that the applicant indemnifies and saves harmless the several cities and towns of this state and their officers from all suits and actions of every name and description brought against any of those cities or towns or any of their officer or officers, for or on account of any injuries or damages received or sustained by any person in consequence of or resulting from any work performed by the applicant, his or her servants or agents, or of or from any improper materials used in the work, or of or from any negligence in guarding the work, or of or from any act or omission of the applicant, his or her servants or agents. The bond is also to be conditioned that the applicant faithfully performs the work in all respects and also replaces and restores that portion of any street in which the applicant, his or her servants and agents, make any excavation to as good condition as that in which the street was before the work was performed, and also keeps and maintains that portion of the street in like condition for the period of one year to the satisfaction of the officer or officers of the city or town charged with the maintenance of the street or highway and that the city or town may within one year, and with or without notice to the applicant, repair the street and that the cost of the repair shall be paid by the applicant; and that the applicant complies in all respects with the rules and regulations established by the city or town relative to the work, and also pays all fines imposed upon him or her for violations of any rule or regulation.

SECTION 3. Chapter 5-20 of the General Laws entitled "Plumbers and Irrigators" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following section:

5-20-40. Investigation and Prosecution of Violations. -- The chief of the section shall act as an investigator with respect to the enforcement of all provisions of law relative to the licensing of plumbers, and to this effect whenever a complaint is made by the chief of this section to the director of the department of labor and training, or his/her designee, that provisions of this chapter are being violated, the director, or his/her designee, may issue an order to cease and desist from said violation and may impose penalties against said violator, and against the contractors.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon passage.