Senator Zeldin Announces Huge Win for Suffolk County Electricians

Senator Zeldin Announces Huge Win for Suffolk County Electricians

Governor Cuomo Signs Zeldin Bill Allowing Consolidation into One Single Permit for Electrician Licensing in Suffolk

ALBANY—Senator Lee Zeldin (R, C, I—Shirley), Chair of the Senate Consumer Protection Committee, announced today that his bill to help consolidate licenses into one single master electrician license in Suffolk County has been signed into law.

“As Chair of the Senate’s Consumer Protection Committee, I am pleased to announce that my consolidated electricians licensing bill was just signed into law by Governor Cuomo,” said Senator Zeldin. “Some municipalities within Suffolk County required electricians to be licensed by that municipality in order to work within its town or village. This placed a heavy burden on electricians who have needed to then obtain licenses and register to work within several different municipalities.”

The bill, S. 5132, will protect electricians in Suffolk County by permitting the county to adopt a law allowing the issuance of one single permit at the county level. This will allow electricians to work within any municipality in Suffolk County, without additional town or village licensing permits required.

Suffolk County Legislator Tom Cilmi, who sponsored Suffolk County’s Home Rule Message for this effort said, “I was delighted to work with Senator Zeldin on this important legislation. In neighboring counties, electricians are saddled with the administrative and financial responsibility of maintaining dozens of duplicative licenses in order to operate legally, thus increasing costs to consumers. We did not want that to happen in Suffolk County. Electricians can now spend time serving their customers rather than writing checks to every governmental entity that wants a piece of the action.”

Charlie Gardner, Director of Government Affairs of the Long Island Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association said, “The local electrical industry is thrilled. Senator Lee Zeldin recognized the economic costs and administrative burdens placed upon electrical contractors in Suffolk County which were caused by governmental over-regulation and duplicative licensing requirements. These burdens benefited no one, least of all consumers.”

Russell Calemmo, the Chairman of the Suffolk County Electrical Licensing Board, said, “This bill provides an enormous financial saving for all Suffolk County residents and the electrical industry, providing consumer protection and reducing unresolved ambiguity for contractors and government redundancies that have no true value other than to burden contractors with additional fees to be passed on to consumers.”

The bill was co-sponsored in the State Senate by Senator Phil Boyle and sponsored in the Assembly by Assemblyman Fred Thiele. This law will become effective immediately.

Press Contact: Jennifer DiSiena

(631) 585-0608 or disiena@nysenate.gov