October 2006
October 2006
EST Smoke and Mirrors
It is time to publicly discuss CEDIA and NSCA’s legislative attempts to mandate the Electronic Systems Technician (EST) program as the basis for licensure to work in various states. We are taking this somewhat unusual step because the EST has not been accepted by the industry and we need to inform our members and the industry about what our association is doing to protect the CTS and our members' investment in it.
InfoComm has over 5,600 holders of our Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) designation with about 400 being at the advanced level for Design and Installation where they take extensive examinations with industry experts doing the testing. Just recently we also announced that we are seeking ANSI-ISO certification of the CTS to guarantee our members that we are running our certification program along world-class guidelines.
This communication is necessary today because CEDIA and NSCA continue to lobby states to mandate the Electronics Systems Technician certification even though there are less than 150 holders of the C-EST. CEDIA has numerous personnel certified outside of the EST and that certification, as well as NSCA’s former NICET certification, are not of concern to InfoComm because they are not lobbying states to base state licensure upon it and are not trying to force other industries to fit into the EST program.
Nebraska public records show that in the first half of 2006 CEDIA paid a lobbyist $8,000 to introduce legislation to study the creation of a mandatory Electronic Systems Technician license for all workers in the state of Nebraska who operate in the low voltage environment. This would impact the AV industry, as well as many others in the telecommunications, IT and security industries.
What was telling in Nebraska was that there was no clarion cry from anyone in any industry in the state calling for this license. As in most states, Nebraska businesses do not typically ask to be regulated. A simple review of information posted by NSCA shows that not one company in Nebraska has chosen to invest in the Certified Electronic System Technician program. There are no C-ESTs in the state, nor are there any Nebraskans enrolled in the EST apprenticeship program. The state had no intention of trying to regulate workers operating in the low voltage environment. Despite the deficiency of broad based support for the EST program, CEDIA and NSCA sought the state’s assistance to create a competitive marketing advantage for EST over many other generally accepted programs, such as those offered by BICSI, InfoComm, the National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association and others.
One must ask why this legislation was introduced in Nebraska when not one company based in the state has chosen to invest in the EST training program and other certification programs from other associations are ably serving the needs of their own industries. Sadly, it seems that NSCA and CEDIA are trying to salvage a certification program, produced at considerable expense, which the industry has rejected. Unable to convince their memberships and other industries to invest in this program, they seek to create state mandates for it. They targeted Nebraska, not because there is any compelling state interest or benefit to Nebraska consumers or to the Nebraska workforce, but because they were hoping to quietly usher it through the unique Unicameral legislature. Nebraska is the only state to have one, rather than two, legislative bodies. Upon approval, the associations planned to shop the regulation to other states throughout the country with the State of Nebraska’s approval.
In Lincoln it was obvious that there is no salient public policy justification for studying or implementing mandatory EST licensing or state certification programs. To its credit, last week the Nebraska General Affairs Committee recognized this and unanimously rejected this ill-conceived overture.
In New Hampshire last March the two associations tried to mandate the EST in a similar manner and were soundly rejected. At that time we chose not to openly discuss the issue, as we thought the leaders of NSCA and CEDIA would clearly see that their ideas and strategy were not what the industry wanted. We communicated our victory to our members without details in an article in our April 26, 2006, Member and Association Update electronic newsletters. We thought the setback they suffered in New Hampshire was enough to give them pause, after a Senate Hearing room packed with dozens of angry Granite State workers from many industries decried the mandatory EST certification bill. CEDIA and NSCA had this bill quietly introduced through the services of another lobbyist into the small, fast-acting legislature, without consulting other industry players.
It is time to put away the smoke and mirrors. According to information on NSCA’s website, it is clear that there are less than 150 Certified Electronic System Technicians. Additionally, the US Department of Labor reports that only 45 people have signed up for the National EST apprenticeship in the five years it has been available, and it is likely that some of those have abandoned the program. The EST program is not driving new people into the industry as has been claimed, nor is it effectively preparing workers for AV careers.
Our members tell us the EST program teaches information that their employees will never use. For most AV professionals, learning how to punch down old-style telephone cables is not productive training. Additionally the manuals that have been developed for the EST program have not been kept up-to-date, which is critical for the education of high-tech workers. Among other problems, the current EST manuals do not reflect the current National Electrical Code or current IT operating systems or hardware. Linear compression termination methods are not mentioned, nor are lead free soldering techniques, which is increasingly important in light of RoHS and WEEE. The Internet is barely mentioned in these five year old manuals.
Beyond the problems with the books, the EST program also overlooks that there is no such thing as an electronic systems or "low voltage" industry. It makes little sense in trying to characterize an industry by the amount of current it uses. It only serves to differentiate industry workers from electricians who do high voltage. But even that does not work. In New Hampshire, a state senator was so confused by the EST legislation that he said if an electrician can perform high voltage tasks, they could easily handle all low-voltage work. Our industry is defined by the integrated systems we build to enhance our customers' ability to communicate and those systems go beyond electronics to include acoustics, countless human factors, visual sight lines, content creation, and so much more.
In conversations with CEDIA and NSCA that have gone on for over a year, InfoComm has been clear in its intention to oppose this type of legislation wherever it was introduced, as were several other national groups. But the widespread opposition to mandatory licensure based on the EST and the paucity of local industry support, including from their own memberships, have not deterred them. Instead we received a letter asking us to support their Nebraska bill months after it was introduced because "the industry needs to work together to protect its member’s [sic] investment." Their associations have invested in EST, but have their members, when less than 150 are listed as being certified?
InfoComm is not categorically opposed to licensure, though we are generally of the opinion that the less involvement of government in the AV business the better. However, in Nebraska and in New Hampshire I clearly stated that when states determine there is a compelling reason to license AV technicians InfoComm will be of assistance, because we strongly support objective testing of skills and knowledge as the basis for any state licensure program. We take this stance because our certification program has always stressed that it is based upon measuring candidates’ knowledge and ability.
InfoComm has the support of the industry for its certification program without resorting to government mandates and regulation. With more than 5,600 holders of the Certified Technology Specialist designation, it is a program that stands up on its own merits. Recently we announced that we are extending our efforts by seeking ANSI-ISO 17024 accreditation for our CTS program and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. We have always tried to align ourselves with world-class groups and becoming ANSI-ISO certified is another example.
It is time to face the facts – to clear away the smoke and remove the mirrors. The industry has considered the EST program and has rejected it in the marketplace. Attempts to unnecessarily regulate the professional audiovisual industry so that trade associations can avoid stranded investment in the EST program will not be blithely accepted by InfoComm under the rubric of industry unity. We hope CEDIA and NSCA will abandon their ill-conceived legislative strategy before they cause the industry to lose further credibility in state capitols. We especially would like to see this happen since in the past we initiated many ideas about how we could work together for the benefit of the industry and have responded to CEDIA and NSCA when they have proposed new initiatives. Over the years we have worked together in many ways, and we would like to see that cooperative spirit revived.
Randal A. Lemke, Ph.D.
Executive Director
InfoComm International
More resources relating to EST legislation
Executive Update is republished and archived by Gary Kayye’s rAVe.
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