Senate Bill No. 59
(By Senators Prezioso and McCabe)
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[Introduced January 10, 2007; referred to the Committee on Health
and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §5-11A-3 and §5-11A-3a of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §21-11-3
of said code; and to amend said code by adding thereto a new
section, designated §21-11-10a, all relating to defining
"universal design"; providing immunity from civil damages to
a worker, contractor, engineer or architect who, in good
faith, provides services for materials, without remuneration,
to build or install basic universal design features in
accordance with applicable codes and state and federal laws;
and providing for a standard form informational list of basic
universal design features to be provided to a future buyer of
any proposed residential housing in the state by the licensed
contractor.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §5-11A-3 and §5-11A-3a of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that §21-11-3 of said
code be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by
adding thereto a new section, designated §21-11-10a, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 5. GENERAL POWERS AND AUTHORITY OF THE GOVERNOR,
SECRETARY OF STATE AND ATTORNEY GENERAL; BOARD
OF PUBLIC WORKS; MISCELLANEOUS AGENCIES, COMMISSIONS,
OFFICES, PROGRAMS, ETC.
ARTICLE 11A. WEST VIRGINIA FAIR HOUSING ACT.
§5-11A-3. Definitions.
As used in this article:
(a) "Commission" means the West Virginia Human Rights
Commission;
(b) "Dwelling" means any building, structure or portion
thereof which is occupied as, or designed or intended for occupancy
as, a residence or sleeping place by one or more persons or
families and any vacant land which is offered for sale or lease for
the construction or location thereon of any such building,
structure or portion thereof;
(c) "Family" includes a single individual;
(d) "Person" includes one or more individuals, corporations,
partnerships, associations, labor organizations, legal
representatives, mutual companies, joint-stock companies, trusts,
unincorporated organizations, trustees, trustees in cases under
Title 11 of the United States Code, receivers and fiduciaries;
(e) "To rent" includes to lease, to sublease, to let and
otherwise to grant for a consideration the right to occupy premises
not owned by the occupant;
(f) "Discriminatory housing practice" means an act that is
unlawful under section five, six, seven or nineteen of this article;
(g) "Handicap" means, with respect to a person:
(1) A physical or mental impairment which substantially limits
one or more of such person's major life activities;
(2) A record of having such an impairment; or
(3) Being regarded as having such an impairment, but such term
does not include current, illegal use of or addiction to a
controlled substance, as defined in Section 102 of the Controlled
Substances Act, Title 21, United States Code, Section 802;
(h) "Aggrieved person" includes any person who:
(1) Claims to have been injured by a discriminatory housing
practice; or
(2) Believes that such person will be injured by a
discriminatory housing practice that is about to occur;
(i) "Complainant" means the person, including the commission,
who files a complaint under section eleven of this article;
(j) "Familial status" means:
(1) One or more individuals who have not attained the age of
eighteen years being domiciled with:
(A) A parent or another person having legal custody of such
individual or individuals; or
(B) The designee of such parent or other person having such
custody with the written permission of such parent or other person;
or
(2) Any person who is pregnant or is in the process of
securing legal custody of any individual who has not attained the
age of eighteen years;
(k) "Conciliation" means the attempted resolution of issues
raised by a complaint or by the investigation of such complaint
through informal negotiations involving the aggrieved person, the
respondent and the commission;
(l) "Conciliation agreement" means a written agreement setting
forth the resolution of the issues in conciliation;
(m) "Respondent" means:
(1) The person or other entity accused in a complaint of an
unfair housing practice; and
(2) Any other person or entity identified in the course of
investigation and notified as required with respect to respondents
so identified under subsection (a), section eleven of this article;
and
(n) The term "rooming house" means a house or building where
there are one or more bedrooms which the proprietor can spare for
the purpose of giving lodgings to such persons as he
or she chooses
to receive;
and
(o) The term "basic universal design" means the design of
products and environments to be useable by all people, to the
greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or
specialization.
§5-11A-3a. Volunteer services or materials to build or install
universal accessibility features; workers,
contractors, engineers, architects; immunity from
civil liability.
Any person, including a worker, contractor, engineer or
architect, who in good faith provides services or materials, without remuneration, to build or install
universal accessibility
basic universal design features as set forth in section
four ten-a,
of this article
eleven, chapter twenty-one of this code may not be
liable for any civil damages as the result of any act or omission
in providing such services or materials:
Provided, That the
basic
universal
design accessible feature or features shall be built or
constructed in accordance with applicable state and federal laws
and applicable building codes.
CHAPTER 21. LABOR
ARTICLE 11. WEST VIRGINIA CONTRACTOR LICENSING ACT.
§21-11-3. Definitions.
(a) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Division of
Labor.
(b) "Board" means the West Virginia Contractor Licensing
Board.
(c) "Contractor" means a person who in any capacity for
compensation, other than as an employee of another, undertakes,
offers to undertake, purports to have the capacity to undertake or
submits a bid to construct, alter, repair, add to, subtract from,
improve, move, wreck or demolish any building, highway, road,
railroad, structure or excavation associated with a project,
development or improvement, or to do any part thereof, including
the erection of scaffolding or other structures or works in
connection therewith, where the cost of the undertaking is two
thousand five hundred dollars or more.
Contractor includes a construction manager who performs
management and counseling services for a construction project for a professional fee.
Contractor does not include:
(1) One who merely furnishes materials or supplies without
fabricating or consuming them in the construction project;
(2) A person who personally performs construction work on the
site of real property which the person owns or leases whether for
commercial or residential purposes;
(3) A person who is licensed or registered as a professional
and who functions under the control of any other licensing or
regulatory board, whose primary business is real estate sales,
appraisal, development, management and maintenance, who acting in
his or her respective professional capacity and any employee of
such professional, acting in the course of his or her employment,
performs any work which may be considered to be performing
contracting work;
(4) A pest control operator licensed under the provisions of
section seven, article sixteen-a, chapter nineteen of this code to
engage in the application of pesticides for hire, unless the
operator also performs structural repairs exceeding one thousand
dollars on property treated for insect pests; or
(5) A corporation, partnership or sole proprietorship whose
primary purpose is to prepare construction plans and specifications
used by the contractors defined in this subsection and who employs
full time a registered architect licensed to practice in this state
or a registered professional engineer licensed to practice in this
state. Employees of such corporation, partnership or sole
proprietorship shall also be exempt from the requirements of this article.
(d) "Electrical contractor" means a person who engages in the
business of contracting to install, erect, repair or alter
electrical equipment for the generation, transmission or
utilization of electrical energy.
(e) "General building contractor" means a person whose
principal business is in connection with any structures built,
being built or to be built for the support, shelter and enclosure
of persons, animals, chattels or movable property of any kind,
requiring in the construction the use of more than two contractor
classifications, or a person who supervises the whole or any part
of such construction.
(f) "General engineering contractor" means a person whose
principal business is in connection with public or private works
projects, including, but not limited to, one or more of the
following: Irrigation, drainage and water supply projects;
electrical generation projects; swimming pools; flood control;
harbors; railroads; highways; tunnels; airports and airways; sewers
and sewage disposal systems; bridges; inland waterways; pipelines
for transmission of petroleum and other liquid or gaseous
substances; refineries; chemical plants and other industrial plants
requiring a specialized engineering knowledge and skill; piers and
foundations; and structures or work incidental thereto.
(g) "Heating, ventilating and cooling contractor" means a
person who engages in the business of contracting to install,
erect, repair, service or alter heating, ventilating and air
conditioning equipment or systems to heat, cool or ventilate residential and commercial structures.
(h) "License" means a license to engage in business in this
state as a contractor in one of the classifications set out in this
article.
(i) "Multifamily contractor" means a person who is engaged in
construction, repair or improvement of a multifamily residential
structure.
(j) "Person" includes an individual, firm, sole
proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association or other
entity engaged in the undertaking of construction projects or any
combination thereof.
(k) "Piping contractor" means a person whose principal
business is the installation of process, power plant, air, oil,
gasoline, chemical or other kinds of piping; and boilers and
pressure vessels using joining methods of thread, weld, solvent
weld or mechanical methods.
(l) "Plumbing contractor" means a person whose principal
business is the installation, maintenance, extension and alteration
of piping, plumbing fixtures, plumbing appliances and plumbing
appurtenances, venting systems and public or private water supply
systems within or adjacent to any building or structure; included
in this definition is installation of gas piping, chilled water
piping in connection with refrigeration processes and comfort
cooling, hot water piping in connection with building heating and
piping for stand pipes.
(m) "Residential contractor" means a person whose principal
business is in connection with construction, repair or improvement of real property used as, or intended to be used for, residential
occupancy.
(n) "Specialty contractor" means a person who engages in
specialty contracting services which do not substantially fall
within the scope of any contractor classification as set out
herein.
(o) "Residential occupancy" means occupancy of a structure for
residential purposes for periods greater than thirty consecutive
calendar days.
(p) "Residential structure" means a building or structure used
or intended to be used for residential occupancy, together with
related facilities appurtenant to the premises as an adjunct of
residential occupancy, which contains not more than three distinct
floors which are above grade in any structural unit regardless of
whether the building or structure is designed and constructed for
one or more living units. Dormitories, hotels, motels or other
transient lodging units are not residential structures.
(q) "Subcontractor" means a person who performs a portion of
a project undertaken by a principal or general contractor or
another subcontractor.
(r) "Division" means the Division of Labor.
(s) "Cease and desist order" means an order issued by the
commissioner pursuant to the provisions of this article.
(t) The term "basic universal design" means the design of
products and environments to be useable by all people, to the
greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or
specialization.
§21-11-10a. Informational list for basic universal design
features; penalties.
(a) Ninety days after the Contractor Licensing Board certifies
and makes available to the general public the standard form
informational list of basic universal design features pursuant to
this section, a licensed contractor of any proposed residential
housing in the state shall provide to the buyer an informational
list of basic universal design features that would make the home
entrance, interior routes of travel, the kitchen and the bathroom
or bathrooms universally accessible. Basic universal design
features are to include, but not be limited to, the following:
(1) At least one nonstep entrance into the dwelling;
(2) All doors on the entry-level floor, including bathrooms,
have a minimum of thirty-six inches;
(3) At least one accessible bathroom on the entry-level floor
with ample maneuvering space;
(4) Kitchen, general living space and one room capable of
conversion into a bedroom, all with ample maneuvering space, on the
entry-level floor; and
(5) Any other external or internal feature requested at a
reasonable time by the buyer and agreed to by the seller.
(b) If a buyer is interested in a specific informational
feature on the list established by subsection (a) of this section,
the seller or builder upon request of the buyer shall indicate
whether the feature is standard, limited, optional or not available
and, if available, shall further indicate the cost of such a
feature to the buyer.
(c) The standard form informational list of basic universal
design features shall be certified and made available for
reproduction by the board, in accordance with the provisions of
subsection (a) of this section, based on mutual recommendation of
the board, the American Institute of Architects-West Virginia, the
Home Builders Association of West Virginia and the West Virginia
Center for Excellence in Disabilities.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide immunity from
civil damages to a worker, contractor, engineer or architect who,
in good faith, provides services for materials, without
remuneration, to build or install basic universal design features
in accordance with applicable codes and state and federal laws; and
to establish a standard form informational list of basic universal
design features to be provided to a future buyer of any proposed
residential housing in the state by the licensed contractor.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
§21-11-10a is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.)
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HEALTH AND HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
On pages four and five, section three-a, by striking out the
section caption and substituting therefor a new section caption, to
read as follows:
§5-11A-3a. Volunteer services or materials to build or install
basic universal design features; workers, contractors,
engineers, architects; immunity from civil liability.
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