WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor                   Ch. 647

The Joint Subcommittee undertook to address those issues by
careful review of a draft revision of the existing laws in which
were noted, e.g., provisions that were inconsistent either with
other laws relating to plumbers or to business occupations
generally, provisions that were obsolete, provisions that were
impracticable to apply, and provisions that were at variance with
practice in the industry. The absence of provisions that
generally appear in laws governing business occupations also was
noted.

It is a precept that similar provisions should be stated in
the same way every time. This is particularly true as to
provisions that relate to licensing. To that end, therefore,
provisions of the existing law that were retained and new
provisions that were added have been conformed to the language
and organization of revised articles.

Thus, throughout this title, the defined term "license" is
substituted for the former references to a "certificate" of
competency or a "permit", to denote an authorization to provide
plumbing services that an individual who is not licensed may not
provide. Accordingly, the third clause of the sixteenth sentence
of former Art. 56, § 449(a), which allowed the Board to call the
authorization a "master plumber's certificate", and the second
sentence of former Art. 56, § 453(a), which directed the Board to
designate its authorizations either "certificates" or "permits",
are deleted. This substitution is made to achieve uniformity in
the licensing laws that are administered by boards in the
Department. The term "license" does not have any legal
significance in itself, and the Committee easily could have
decided to use it in a different sense or to use a different
term. The real significance lies in the substantive provisions
in which the term appears. However, the Committee believes that,
if the term consistently is used as indicated, the substantive
provisions become more easily understandable.

The former law granted the Board the authority to issue
limited licenses, which allow licensees to provide plumbing
services or assist in providing plumbing services in specified
geographical areas of the State even though the licensees do not
meet the requirements of a master plumber or a journey plumber.
However, the former law omitted references to the limited
licenses in a number of provisions where those references were
essential for a complete and coherent statement of the law.

The power to issue limited licenses, revised at § 3-310 of
this title, allows the Board to issue a "limited master plumber
license" or a "limited journey plumber license". The revision
remedies the omissions of the former law by adding provisions
regarding holders of "limited master plumber licenses" or
"limited journey plumber licenses" throughout this title.

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