The industry in the Sunshine State is feeling pretty good about this year’s state legislative session.
While some bills didn’t go the way the Florida Swimming Pool Association had hoped, legislation receiving the most attention from the organization did. Among the highlights: The legislature once again decided against stricter equipotential bonding requirements and turned down another attempt expand the scope of work by HVAC professionals to include the repair of pool heaters.
For the second year in a row, the HVAC industry backed a bill that would have allowed its members to replace pool and spa heat pumps. The state’s pool and spa industry strongly opposed the legislation on at least two fronts: qualifications and clarity of the language.
“They want to be pool contractors without being pool contractors,” said Dallas Thiesen, chief government relations officer for the Florida
Swimming Pool Association.
Without knowledge about hydraulics and other aspects specific to pools and spas, HVAC contractors aren’t qualified to work on pools, Thiesen said. Additionally, though proponents depicted it as a heat-pump bill, he believed the language to be more far-reaching.
“It also would mean gas heaters, geothermal, solar,” Thiesen said. “The language they proposed was not narrowly tailored to what they said they wanted.”
While the bill passed the state house, it saw no movement in the Senate. Thiesen expects similar legislation to surface during at least one more legislative session, so FSPA plans to try aligning with heat pump manufacturers who will back up the qualifications argument. FSPA
also expects to enlist the help of FSPA members to call their representatives and donate to the organization’s PAC.
Another bill that would have required copper grids for equipotential bonding saw a similar fate.
Last year, the industry beat back an attempt to remove the allowance of the single wire loop as an option for equipotential bonding in the Florida Building Code. This year, a bill was proposed that would have mandated the use of copper grid.
“It should be at the discretion of the pool owner, their contractor, and their engineer to decide what system is going to be best for them,” Thiesen said.
This bill also passed the House but stalled in the Senate.
Other highlights of this year’s legislative session, which lasts for approximately 60 days and ends in spring:
• One bill addressed the issue of how to safeguard those who rent residential properties with pools and spas, whether short-term through apps such as Swimply, or long-term. The legislation would have required all pools at short- and long-term rentals to be outfitted with the pool barriers required in the Residential Swimming Pool Safety Act. This would remove the exception for homes built before 2001, if a
pool is being rented. While the Senate passed the legislation, the House did not.
FSPA expects another such bill to be proposed in next year’s legislative session.
• The legislature voted to expand the Florida Department of Health’s swimming lesson voucher program to include children from one to seven years old, rather than capping it at 4 years of age. However, funding remains up in the air. The governor and Senate proposed
funding the program with $1 million. However, the House did not include the program in its budget bill.
• Legislation pushing to reform the Florida Department of Health did not pass. FSPA and others hoped to clarify the agency’s authority, increase its transparency in rulemaking, and require certain training for DOH inspectors.
• Another bill sought to eliminate all professional licensing boards and continuing education requirements, delegating the job of licensing review and discipline to another agency. The bill failed.
• The House and Senate passed a bill establishing a subcontractor/supplier default rule that would require payment within 45
days unless the contract specifies other terms. If signed by the governor, it will allow the Florida Construction Industry Licensing
Board to take action against contractors who don’t comply. At press time, the bill awaited the governor’s signature.
