PA Senate Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure — 2026-05-06

Senator Kiefer. Here.

Senator Piscatano. Here.

Senator Tartaglione. Here.

Senator Stefano. Here.

Senator Ferry, second by Senator Piscatana.

Sure. Thank you very much. The amendment was developed in working with the administration where it was determined it's probably best to right-size this by placing it with the state real estate commission to have the oversight of the licensure. So that's what the amendment does. Just real quickly, if it's okay on the bill, 30 other states have licensure of home inspectors as a form of consumer protection. Pennsylvania is only one of four states on the East Coast not to license home inspectors. The legislation is supported by the Home Inspectors Association as well as the realtors. The home inspectors themselves were the ones that actually came to us and sought licensure. They want to ensure their profession is being operated in the best possible manner. As we know with a lot of professions, there are some bad actors out there, and I think they want to ensure that they're providing the highest standards they possibly can to the consumers that utilize them. So this is not a bill driven because of a specific problem that happened in my district or things of that nature. Senator Kiefer and I were talking about that earlier. This is truly a request of the industry and has been very vetted through the stakeholders, and that's why they're in support of it. So, Mr. Chair, I ask for an affirmative vote on both the amendment as well as the underlying bill.

Senator Tartaglian, second by Senator Brown.

I appreciate the maker of the bill and the chairman allowing me to make comments. I am going to support the bill out of committee. However, I do have concerns about the number of hours required for continuing education. Things really don't change that much in the building industry over two years, and so I think that the number of hours required for continuing ed is somewhat monarious. These are my comments. Thank you.

Thank you. So I just have concerns on another license as we're trying to reduce the cost of homeownership, licensing one more entity and requiring the continuing education and everything that goes with it, the bureaucracy of all that. I do appreciate at least streamlining it into the real estate commission, but I don't think that this is necessary. I think that the market can ferret these things out as well as mortgage lenders who will have certain criteria as well. And so for those reasons, I can't support this bill. Thank you.

No, this is the one that works.

I actually, you know, was reviewing this bill because, you know, I had some concerns as well. But, you know, I want to thank Senator Ferry. I think your work with this, the industry asking to uplift their standards is an important comment for me. That 30 other states currently have this is important. And I look at it as a very real issue. Homeownership is one of the most expensive and largest investments of a family. and when you have someone coming in to do an inspection, you want to make sure that you have all the real information, and that is correct. So, Senator Ferry, I appreciate your hard work on this. I may have some questions as we move forward to just make sure it's all done the best that it can be done, but I think you have done a pretty darn good job, and I appreciate your comments that helped solidify some of my thoughts as well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Yes, I would, Mr. Chairman. Thank you so very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Madam Chair Pascola and the entire committee for bringing this bill up. I especially want to take the time to thank your executive director, Jennifer Smeltz, because, you know, your hard work really, really paid off. It took a very long time working with the AG's office and stakeholders. But this is such an important bill to all of us, I believe, when I explain it to you. but for me in particular in the southwest of Pennsylvania, because I have met with and spoken with so many, just dozens and dozens of my constituents who are disabled veterans, seniors, people on fixed incomes, and they have trusted contractors who have taken them for a ride. There are unscrupulous actors out there, and I'm sure all of us have heard some stories where a contractor will, maybe they have a sparkling personality, but that they charge thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars to do a job. They make promises, and either they do a horrible job or they walk away completely with the customer's money. And to protect these people, it became clear that the Home Improvement Consumer Protection Act, the HICPA, needed to have some updates. And through the process, I became aware that the Pennsylvania Attorney General also believes that we need to add some teeth to the HICPA to allow his office to fully go after bad actors. Senate Bill 1324 is a result of my joint effort with the AG's office and the Chairman's office to make HICPA more effective for our constituents. The changes include a requirement that out-of-state applicants for licensure as a home improvement contractor, they must provide a letter of good standing from the state that they are coming from and whether the applicant is or has been involved in disciplinary action and the outcome of that action if it's been determined at the time of the application. And secondarily, the use of the Pennsylvania Justice Network, JNET, during the application and the renewal process to search for convictions of the applicant relating to a home improvement transaction, fraud, theft, crime of deception, or a crime involving fraudulent business practices. This will catch them before they victimize other vulnerable people. I want to thank the chairman and the executive director again as well as the attorney general's office for their significant work and their input on this bill. Senate bill 1324 would be a significant step forward in protecting Pennsylvanians from bad actors in the home improvement industry And I ask the committee for an affirmative vote Thank you Mr Chair and Madam Chair Thank you Senator Is there a motion then to consider Senate Bill 1324

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I was just wondering why tree services were ahead of the field. Because oftentimes we've had some folks that have also said that they've hired someone to come in and take care of a dead tree or a tree that's hanging over their home, and some tragedies have occurred. So this is something that should be looked into. And if there is something that is in their record in the past, if they have been fraudulent, if they've made promises or if they've done damages, they should be held accountable. Well, it should be on their record so that others moving forward can see that there are issues with it. That's a very, very important and it's a dangerous service to be in, and it literally affects the safety of your home. So it's something that's on the property of the homeowner and should be considered as well. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My concern there is that I understand that that service has to have insurance and different things like that. But in my area, I have a lot of trees, and it's very, very expensive to cut trees down. And I notice in the legislation that the registration fees are not capped. There's no definitive number in the legislation. So that's my concern. Right now I'm going to be a no vote, but perhaps we can add some type of cap for registration in the legislation. I know when I served in the House, the fees just get so out of hand for some of these services, and it was then passed on to the homeowner. So that's my concern with the bill, and hopefully we can work.

Okay.

Any other questions on the bill? Seeing none, are there any negative votes on the bill? Senator Brooks is recorded in the negative. Seeing no others then, Senate Bill 1324 reported to the full Senate by majority vote.

Thank you very much. Now the committee stands until recess as a call of the chair. Thank you.