Title 35 · WY

35-9-107(a)(iv), that entity has sole construction inspection

Citation: Wyo. Stat. § 35-9-107

Section: 35-9-107

35-9-107(a)(iv), that entity has sole construction inspection authority on the approved plans and sole authority for periodic fire and life safety inspections on state owned or leased buildings. For the purpose of this section, school buildings shall be construed to be state buildings. If local code provisions are more stringent than adopted state codes, the local code prevails. The authority granted to local governmental entities under this subsection is subject to certification of local inspectors as follows: (i) If sole plan review authority is requested, certification of a plan reviewer by the international conference of building officials or the International Code Council;

(ii) If code enforcement authority for fire and building codes is requested, certification of a fire inspector or building inspector by the International Code Council or the International Conference of Building Officials;

(iii) If code enforcement authority for the electrical code is requested:

(A) Certification of an electrical inspector by the International Code Council or the International Association of Electrical Inspectors; and

(B) Licensing of an electrical inspector by the state as a master electrician.

(c) If a municipality or county has assumed enforcement authority for only one (1) or two (2) of the fire, building and electrical standards, the municipality or county shall deliver notice of any project plans submitted to the municipality or county for approval to the department. The notice of the project shall be delivered within ten (10) days of receiving plans from the applicant.

(d) A municipality or county which has enforcement authority under this section shall create its own appeals boards to determine the suitability of alternate materials and types of construction and to interpret and grant variances from adopted codes or standards. The boards shall be appointed and removed by the governing body of the municipality or county, but the person making the decision upon which the appeal is based shall not be a member of the appeal board.

(e) A decision rendered by the local municipal or county appeals board pursuant to subsection (d) of this section may be appealed to the council on fire prevention and electrical safety in buildings for a final decision. A decision of the council may be appealed to the appropriate district court.

(f) Any appeal to a local board under subsection (d) of this section or the council under subsection (e) of this section shall be heard within thirty (30) days of the request for appeal. (g) Nothing in this section prohibits the state fire marshal from assisting, upon request, a municipality, county or other local governmental entity in exercising authority granted to that entity under this section.

35-9-121.1. Health care facilities; jurisdiction; delegation; rules.

(a) The department of health has jurisdiction over all aspects of construction and remodeling, except electrical installation, of any state licensed health care facility as defined in W.S. 35-2-901.

(b) The fire safety code requirements for the construction and remodeling of any state licensed health care facility shall meet the minimum requirements established in the National Fire Protection Association 101 Life Safety Code or any other code required to meet federal fire and life safety certification. If any code requirements for federal certification conflict with the code of any other state or local governmental entity, the code required for federal certification shall prevail.

(c) The department of health shall promulgate rules and regulations for all aspects of construction and remodeling of health care facilities except electrical installation. For aspects of construction and remodeling included in codes adopted by the council pursuant to W.S. 35-9-106, the rules and regulations shall be based on and not exceed the standards of these codes except where federal certification requirements dictate otherwise.

(d) Upon written request from any county or municipality, the department of health shall delegate plan review and inspection responsibilities to the county or municipality that has personnel who are certified pursuant to the applicable code. The department of health shall transfer jurisdiction and authority by letter. The department of health shall notify the governing body of the municipality or county of the minimum standards and requirements under this section and W.S. 16-6-501 and 16-6-502. The following shall apply:

(i) Any municipality or county may issue a certificate of occupancy for a health care facility. The certificate shall reference any code applied to the construction or remodeling of the facility; (ii) A municipality or county which has enforcement authority under this subsection shall create its own appeals board to determine the suitability of alternate materials and types of construction.

(e) After construction or remodeling of any health care facility, the department of health shall have jurisdiction over the fire and life safety inspections required for federal certification.

Division 3. Electrical Licensing

35-9-122. Chief electrical inspector responsible for licensing.

The chief electrical inspector is responsible for licensing electrical contractors, master electricians, journeyman electricians, low voltage electrical contractors, limited electrical contractors, low voltage technicians and limited technicians and shall pass on the fitness and qualifications of applicants for licenses. Every applicant for a license under this chapter shall provide his social security number to the chief electrical inspector.

35-9-123. Electrical installations to be performed by licensed electricians; exceptions.

(a) Licensed electrical contractors employing licensed master or journeymen electricians, or registered apprentice electricians supervised by a licensed master or journeyman electrician shall install all electrical equipment. This requirement is waived for the following, however the waiver does not exempt the following persons from meeting all other code requirements under this act:

(i) Property owned or leased by a person when the person, his partner or a major stockholder of a family corporation is installing the equipment and the property is not for immediate resale;

(ii) Oil or gas field operations, including those operations involving exploration, testing, drilling, production or transporting via pipeline of oil or gas, railroads, petroleum refineries, fertilizer manufacturing facilities, foundries, mines and their appurtenant facilities; (iii) Liquefied petroleum, gas, electric or communication facilities exercising their function as public utilities;

(iv) Cable-TV, satellite-TV and telecommunications, including data and related services of cable-TV, satellite-TV and telecommunications providers including its contractors and subcontractors provided such contractors and subcontractors are limited to the installation of low voltage cable, A.M. or F.M. radio stations, television stations, phone services, internet services, data services and related services;

(v) Farms or ranches of forty (40) acres or more on deeded land;

(vi) Buildings constructed by a school or community college district as part of an industrial arts curriculum, under the direct supervision of a qualified industrial arts instructor. The school or community college district shall have the installations inspected by the state electrical inspector's office or the local enforcement authority, whichever has jurisdiction, to ensure compliance with W.S. 35-9-120;

(vii) Licensed low voltage electrical contractors employing licensed low voltage technicians or registered low voltage apprentice technicians who may install electrical equipment which falls under the scope of their low voltage license or registration. No low voltage contractor may work on electrical systems which exceed ninety (90) volts unless allowed pursuant to this subsection. The chief electrical inspector may issue a low voltage electrical contractor's license to contractors not qualified for an electrical contractor's license but qualified for their low voltage area of expertise for the installation, repair or remodel of:

(A) All electrical systems under ninety (90) volts;

(B) Alarm systems under ninety (90) volts;

(D) Sound systems under ninety (90) volts;

(E) Television systems under ninety (90) volts; (F) Control systems under ninety (90) volts;

(G) Lawn sprinkler systems under ninety (90) volts.

(viii) Licensed limited electrical contractors employing licensed limited technicians or registered limited apprentice technicians who may install electrical equipment which falls under the scope of their limited license or registration. The electrical work shall only include the electrical system on the load side of the disconnect which supplies power to the electrical equipment that they are licensed to work on. The chief electrical inspector may issue a limited electrical contractor's license to a contractor not qualified for an electrical contractor's license but qualified in his limited area of expertise for the:

(A) Installation, repair or remodel of heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems limited to wiring on the load side of the equipment disconnect;

(B) Installation, repair or remodel of elevator systems limited to wiring on the load side of the equipment disconnect;

(D) Installation, repair or remodel of water well and irrigation systems limited to wiring on the load side of the equipment disconnect;

(E) Routine repair or maintenance of light fixtures limited to replacement of ballasts and fixture parts.

(ix) Employees of rural electric cooperatives, as defined in W.S. 37-17-101(a)(i), when performing the following work:

(A) Installation of new or upgraded service connections or attachments of secondary service wires to any utility point of attachment on all overhead connections of the cooperative's equipment to the cooperative's customer's connections and all underground connections that are in close proximity to conductors in excess of six hundred (600) volts; or (B) Making repairs on secondary service wires or reattachments of secondary service wires to any utility point of attachment in emergency or outage situations.

(b) Exceptions shall not apply to anyone who contracts or subcontracts to or for any exempt person, partnership or corporation.

35-9-124. Powers and duties of board; appeals.

(a) The board shall:

(i) Adopt rules and regulations to implement this section and to establish minimum standards for:

(A) Training requirements for all classes of electricians;

(B) Licensing requirements for all classes of electricians; and

(C) Reciprocal licenses for any journeyman electrician, master electrician, low voltage technician or limited technician license.

(ii) Regarding the installation of electrical equipment and electrical safety standards, hear appeals to determine the suitability of alternate materials and type of construction and to interpret and grant variances from the National Electrical Code.

(b) Any applicant may appeal a decision of the chief electrical inspector to the board.

(c) The board may suspend or cancel the license of any licensee for a repeated or serious violation of this act or the rules and regulations of the board. A serious violation is any violation that poses a risk of injury or death to persons or is likely to result in property damage exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500.00). A repeated violation is one that occurs within two (2) years of any previously documented violation.

(d) Any person whose license is suspended, cancelled or refused by the board may appeal to the appropriate district court. (e) Repealed By Laws 2010, Ch. 84, § 3.

(f) The board may hear appeals of civil penalties imposed by the department pursuant to W.S. 35-9-130.

(g) The board may enter into and approve reciprocal license agreements with other states if such agreements conform with the conditions and minimum standards required under W.S.