Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine January 2019

“deferment” continuing education is not required. By doing so, they maintain their license and save $160 as a class “A” license and $110 as a class “B” license. (The deferment license is only $40.) Some also thought that the four hour continuing education requirement was in addition to other education they were already getting. The only possible “additional” class would two hours on code if they were not already taking code training. The two hours of code training is the most critical aspect of education and I think most companies would be glad to incorporate it into their existing training regimen. Those who misunderstood this aspect of the law are already taking lots of training and this requirement does not have to upset their commitment to their present training. Second, a commitment to less licensing and government intervention. Here is where there can be a misunderstanding between some in the legislature and me. Those legislators opposed to our bill in 2017 are committed to less regulation, less licensing, less government. Everyone should understand that I agree with them. We have too much government imposing on its citizens already. HOWEVER, the role of and

Continuing Education It Makes Sense for Everyone If you read the article about Representative Roger Lynch submitting a bill for continuing education, you know that the Association is promoting the same bill that went down in flames during the 2017 session. Why so? Well, it took two very concentrated efforts of the Association and industry back in 1989 and 1991 to get our licensing law passed. Hopefully, history will repeat itself and HB 1060 will pass during this 2019 session. Everywhere I go, the most common question about continuing education is, “Why would anyone be against it?” There are three commonly held reasons. First, they don’t understand the bill. During 2017 some very good companies took a stand against our bill because they thought that everyone in the industry would be required to take continuing education. Of course, this wasn’t so. The bill only applies to “A” and “B” licensees. Even then, a person working for a company, not doing side work, can put their license in