The statute moves the expiration of local licensing from July 1, 2024 to July 1, 2025, and requires the Florida Construction Industry Licensing Board to issue registered licenses to contractors that had certain local licenses from 2021 through 2023 in areas where those local licenses have been phased out.
Senate Bill 1142 modifies 163.211, Florida Statutes, to extend the expiration of local licensing from July 1, 2024 to July 1, 2025. The bill also modifies 489.113, Florida Statutes, to extend the deadline from July 1, 2024 to July 1, 2025 for the Construction Industry Licensing Board to create voluntary, specialty licenses for 12 new categories of work:
Structural aluminum screen enclosures
Marine seawall work
Marine bulkhead work
Marine dock work
Marine pile driving
Structural masonry
Structural prestressed, precast concrete work
Rooftop solar heating installation
Structural steel
Window and door installation, including garage door installation and hurricane or windstorm protection
Plaster and lath
Structural carpentry
Finally, the new bill, if signed by the Governor, would require the Construction Industry Licensing Board to issue registered licenses (as opposed to certified licenses), without an exam, to certain contractors if the following requirements are met:
1. The applicant held, in any local jurisdiction in this state during 2021, 2022, or 2023, a certificate of registration issued by the state or a local license issued by a local jurisdiction to perform work in a category of contractor defined in s. 489.105(3)(a)-(o).
2. The applicant submits all of the following to the board:
a. Evidence of the certificate of registration or local license held by the applicant as required by subparagraph 1.
b. Evidence that the specified local jurisdiction does not have a license type available for the category of work for which the applicant was issued a certificate of registration or local license during 2021, 2022, or 2023, such as a notification on the website of the local jurisdiction or an e-mail or letter from the office of the local building official or local building department stating that such license type is not available in that local jurisdiction.
c. Evidence that the applicant has submitted the required fee.
d. Evidence of compliance with the insurance and financial responsibility requirements of s. 489.115(5).
The bill also indicates that the CILB is responsible for disciplining contractors who receive these licenses and that the licenses will need to be renewed every two years.
If this law is signed by the Governor, it will go into effect July 1, 2024.