Florida Sets Dates for Mold Licensing Meetings

[hausdok]

Public meetings will be held in Florida over the next few weeks for stakeholders in the mold assessment and remediation professions to address those portions of Senate Bill 2234 (2007); an act relating to the regulation of building inspection professionals, that deal with the regulation of mold assessment and remediation professionals within the state of Florida.

This bill will become effective July 1, 2010. It provides for licensure and regulation of mold assessment and remediation professionals but does not provide for a Board of Mold Assessors and Remediators and will be administered by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DPBR). Prior to the effective date of the bill, the DPBR is working with stakeholders to establish a regulatory structure for the profession within the state.

The DPBR intends to have all licensing requirements, including certification exams, ready by July 1, 2010, so that they can begin accepting applications for licensure on that date. Under section 468.8423 of the Florida Statutes, persons who perform mold assessment or mold remediation “may qualify to be licensed by the department…if the person meets the licensure requirements of this part by July 1, 2010."

As written, there is no clear distinction in the statute between an applicant wishing to be grandfathered and and applicants who have no prior mold experience. In order to develop recommendations to the Florida state legislature to clarify the standards applicable to businesses that have historically provided inspection services, the DPBR is holding meetings to hear from stakeholders. The meetings will be held in Tallahassee on September 29th, Jacksonville, October 1st, Orlando October 13th, and Ft. Lauderdale on October 14th.

At least one organization is already mounting substantial effort to influence how this bill is implemented. Representatives of the International Association of Certified Indoor Air Consultants (IAC2), an outgrowth of the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, are planning to attend the meetings and the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors is urging its members to show up in force at the meetings and is coaching its members to use the following talking points:

• The International Association of Certified Home Inspectors online mold course should be used to certify Florida mold assessors.
• International Association of Certified Home Inspectors online video mold course should be used to certify Florida mold assessors.
• IAC2 members who have completed an approved mold course should be grandfathered without further training or examination.
• A report by the U.S. Department of Education that was recently released proves that online education is better than classroom education.
• Classroom courses harm consumers for a variety of reasons
• IAC2's "How to Perform Mold Inspections" book should be adopted as the required mold inspection training textbook.

For more information about the times and dates of the DPBR meetings click here.