Dear Governor Rell,

There are 8,000 plumbers in the State of Connecticut . Legislation has been enacted recently which requires plumbers in the State of Connecticut to attend continuing education classes as prescribed by Bill 501 also referred to as SB501.  This law is nothing more than another unfunded mandate and yet another layer of bureaucracy placed on Connecticut businesses.

The Connecticut General Law Committee held a public hearing to discuss the issue on March 5, 2002 .

The original call for the meeting was "AN ACT CONCERNING CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS FOR ELECTRICIANS." 

Please refer to: 

Transcript - Public Hearing of the General Law Committee
March 05, 2002  [PDF]
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Meg 03/05/02 For details and documentation.

In attendance at the March 5, 2005 hearing, 2 members of a special interest group testified Connecticut Plumbers should also be included in the proposed scope.  8,000 plumbers were not aware or had any idea of any of the above mentioned. The process moved forward and the law was enacted.

Jack Cutillo , William Lamphere and I have been working to repeal SB501.

Legislation has been proposed and the general law committee has agreed to allow a public hearing scheduled for March 10, 2005 to discuss this important issue that affects 8,000 plumbers, their families, friends and customers.

Consumer Protection Commissioner Edwin Rodriguez met Wednesday with special interest groups who represent and small fraction of 8,000 State of Connecticut plumbers. 

Our group has requested a meeting to discuss our position but Commissioner Rodriguez has not given me the courtesy of a reply.  We would like to meet with him prior to the March 10, 2005 public hearing and make him aware of concerns the Department of Consumer Protection may have overlooked.  It appears the Commissioner has a relationship with the special interest groups at the expense of very concerned plumbers.

There are also ethical questions that should be discussed and I respectfully request your intervention in this matter.

Should you have any questions regarding this issue, please contact me at your earliest convenience.

Please visit our web site for more details:  www.geocities.com/ctplumbers 

Respectfully,

Murray Renshaw

(860) 447 3903

P.S. regards from New London - you’re doing a great job!

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