HB 2492 — Requiring state registered apprenticeships in the building and construction trades to provide behavioral health and wellness training.

(A) The trainee has more than two thousand hours of training;

(B) The supervising plumber is no more than forty miles from the jobsite;

and (C) The scope of work on the trainee's jobsite is residential service plumbing in a residential structure and limited to the scope of the residential service plumber.

(b) An individual who has a current training certificate and who has successfully completed or is currently enrolled in an approved apprenticeship program or in a technical school program in the plumbing construction trade in a school approved by the workforce training and education coordinating board, may work without direct on-site supervision during the last six months of meeting the practical experience requirements of this chapter.

(4)(a) Until December 31, 2028, the ratio of trainees to certified journey level, residential service, or specialty plumbers working on a jobsite must be:

(i) Not more than three trainees, each working on a separate residential structure jobsite performing residential service plumbing p.

3 SHB 2492 only in a like-in-kind manner for every certified specialty plumber or journey level plumber working as a specialty plumber;

(ii) Not more than one trainee working on any one jobsite for every certified journey level plumber working as a journey level plumber;

(iii) Not more than one trainee working on any one jobsite for every certified residential service plumber;

and (iv) Not more than three trainees working on a residential construction jobsite performing plumbing installation for every certified specialty plumber or journey level plumber working as a specialty plumber.

(b) After December 31, 2028, not more than two trainees may work on any residential structure jobsite for every certified specialty plumber or journey level plumber working as a specialty plumber.

(5) An individual who has a current training certificate and who has successfully completed or is currently enrolled in a medical gas piping installer training course approved by the department may work on medical gas piping systems if the individual is under the direct supervision of a certified medical gas piping installer who holds a medical gas piping installer endorsement one hundred percent of a working day on a one-to-one ratio.

(6) The training to become a certified plumber must include not less than sixteen hours of classroom training established by the director with the advice of the advisory board.

The classroom training must include, but not be limited to, electrical wiring safety, grounding, bonding, and other related items plumbers need to know to work under this chapter.

(7) All persons who are certified plumbers before January 1, 2003, are deemed to have received the classroom training required in subsection (6) of this section.

(8)(a) The department shall instruct the advisory board of plumbers to convene a subgroup that includes the statewide association representing plumbing, heating, and cooling contractors;

the union representing plumbers and pipefitters;

the association representing plumbing contractors who employ union plumbers and pipefitters;

and other directly affected stakeholders after the completion of the 2023 legislative session, the 2027 legislative session, and every three years thereafter.

(b) The work group shall evaluate the effects that the trainee ratio changes have had on the industry, including public safety and p.

4 SHB 2492 industry response to public demand for plumbing services.

The work group shall determine a sustainable plan for maintaining sufficient numbers of plumbers and trainees within the plumbing workforce to safely meet the needs of the public.

The report is due to the standing labor committees of the legislature before December 1st of each year that the work group convenes.

The work group shall conclude on receipt of the report by the legislature.

Within current funding appropriated to the department, the department must reimburse each member of the work group in accordance with the provisions of RCW 43.03.050 and 43.03.060 for each day in which the member is actually engaged in attendance of meetings of the advisory board.

Sec.

2.

RCW 19.28.211 and 2025 c 233 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) The department shall issue a certificate of competency to all applicants who have passed the examination provided in RCW 19.28.201, met the in-class education requirements of RCW 19.28.205 if applicable, and who have complied with RCW 19.28.161 through 19.28.271 and the rules adopted under this chapter.

The certificate may include a photograph of the holder.

The certificate shall bear the date of issuance, and shall expire on the holder's birthday.

The certificate shall be renewed every three years, upon application, on or before the holder's birthdate.

A fee shall be assessed for each certificate and for each annual renewal.

(2) If the certificate holder demonstrates to the department that he or she has satisfactorily completed an annual eight-hour continuing education course, the certificate may be renewed without examination by appropriate application unless the certificate has been revoked, suspended, or not renewed within ninety days after the expiration date.

For pump and irrigation or domestic pump specialty electricians, the continuing education course may combine both electrical and plumbing education provided that there is a minimum of four hours of electrical training in the course.

(a) The contents and requirements for satisfactory completion of the continuing education course shall be determined by the director and approved by the board.

(b) For continuing education requirements, an applicant may count up to four completed hours in behavioral health and wellness training approved by the department towards the total number of required hours.

The training must include at least two hours of instruction p.

5 SHB 2492 and must cover the following topics:

Destigmatizing behavioral health and supporting wellness;

recognizing signs of distress;

suicide prevention;

substance use disorder awareness and prevention;

and providing peer support and connecting to resources.

(c) The department shall accept proof of a certificate holder's satisfactory completion of a continuing education course offered in another state as meeting the requirements for maintaining a current Washington state certificate of competency if the department is satisfied the course is comparable in nature to that required in Washington state for maintaining a current certificate of competency.

(3) If the certificate is not renewed before the expiration date, the individual shall pay twice the usual fee.

The department shall set the fees by rule for issuance and renewal of a certificate of competency.

The fees shall cover but not exceed the costs of issuing the certificates and of administering and enforcing the electrician certification requirements of this chapter.

(4)(a) Except as provided in (b) of this subsection, the certificates of competency and temporary permits provided for in this chapter grant the holder the right to work in the electrical construction trade as a master electrician, journey level electrician, or specialty electrician in accordance with their provisions throughout the state and within any of its political subdivisions without additional proof of competency or any other license, permit, or fee to engage in such work.

(b) Persons performing installation and maintenance work as provided in RCW 19.28.285 must also meet the certification requirements of RCW 19.28.285.

3.1.

These hours are in addition to, p.and do not supplant, the minimum related or supplemental instruction hours required for the applicable program.

6 SHB 2492 and do not supplant, the minimum related or supplemental instruction hours required for the applicable program.

(iii) suicide prevention;p.

(iv)1 substanceHB use2492 disorder awareness and prevention;

(iv) substance abuse disorder awareness and prevention;

72 SHBHB 2492