By Black H.B. No. 1262
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the regulation of pest control services by the Texas
1-3 Structural Pest Control Board.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 2(b)(10), Texas Structural Pest Control
1-6 Act (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to
1-7 read as follows:
1-8 (10) "Technician" means an individual employed by a
1-9 business licensee to engage in supervised pesticide applications,
1-10 maintain or utilize structural pest control devices, make sales
1-11 presentations, or identify pest infestation or damage or an
1-12 individual who works under the direct supervision of a certified
1-13 noncommercial applicator and engages in supervised pesticide
1-14 applications, maintains or utilizes structural pest control
1-15 devices, or identifies pest infestation or damage. The term does
1-16 not include an individual whose duties are solely clerical <or
1-17 janitorial,> or are otherwise completely disassociated with pest
1-18 control.
1-19 SECTION 2. Section 3, Texas Structural Pest Control Act
1-20 (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
1-21 adding Subsection (m) to read as follows:
1-22 (m) The executive director shall employ a legal counsel who
1-23 shall report to the executive director and be responsible for the
1-24 enforcement of the rules adopted under this Act.
2-1 SECTION 3. Section 4, Texas Structural Pest Control Act
2-2 (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended by
2-3 adding Subsection (i) to read as follows:
2-4 (i) The board may enter into a memorandum of agreement with
2-5 another political subdivision, not to include institutions of
2-6 public or private education, concerning licensure requirements.
2-7 SECTION 4. Sections 4B(a), (b), (c), (d), and (f), Texas
2-8 Structural Pest Control Act (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil
2-9 Statutes), are amended to read as follows:
2-10 (a) In this section:
2-11 (1) "Apartment<, "apartment> building" means a
2-12 building that contains two or more dwelling units that are rented
2-13 primarily for nontransient permanent dwelling purposes, with rental
2-14 paid by intervals of one week or longer.
2-15 (2) "Incidental use situation" means a pesticide
2-16 application on an occasional, isolated, site-specific basis that is
2-17 incidental to the performance of a primary duty by an employee that
2-18 is not pest control and involves the use of general use pesticides
2-19 after instruction as provided by rules adopted by the board.
2-20 Incidental use situations include treating wasps in an area
2-21 adjacent to a utility meter, treating fire ants in a transformer
2-22 box, or the treating of ants by a janitor or clerical employee in a
2-23 break area.
2-24 (b) An individual must be licensed as a certified
2-25 noncommercial applicator or technician if the individual is not
2-26 licensed as a certified commercial applicator and the individual:
2-27 (1) is an employee of the state or a political
3-1 subdivision of the state <city or county> and engages in the
3-2 business of structural pest control other than applying a general
3-3 use pesticide in an incidental use situation; or
3-4 (2) is an employee of a person who owns, operates, or
3-5 maintains a building, the individual engages in the business of
3-6 structural pest control <in the building>, and the building is an
3-7 apartment building; day-care center; hospital; nursing home; hotel;
3-8 motel; lodge; warehouse; food-processing establishment, other than
3-9 a restaurant, retail food, or food service establishment; school or
3-10 educational institution.
3-11 (c) An individual licensed as a certified noncommercial
3-12 applicator or technician may not engage in the business of
3-13 structural pest control outside the scope of the employment for
3-14 which the individual has been licensed as a certified noncommercial
3-15 applicator or technician unless the individual becomes licensed as
3-16 otherwise provided by this Act.
3-17 (d) An owner of a building that is an apartment building;
3-18 day-care center; hospital; nursing home; hotel; motel; lodge;
3-19 warehouse; food-processing establishment, other than a restaurant,
3-20 retail food, or food service establishment; school or educational
3-21 institution, may obtain pest control services <for the building>
3-22 from a person only by:
3-23 (1) contracting with a business that has a structural
3-24 pest control business license; or
3-25 (2) requiring an employee of the owner, who is
3-26 licensed as a certified noncommercial applicator or technician, to
3-27 perform the services.
4-1 (f) An individual licensed as a certified noncommercial
4-2 applicator or technician may engage in the business of structural
4-3 pest control as provided by this section without association with a
4-4 business that has been issued a structural pest control business
4-5 license. The board may adopt insurance requirements for certified
4-6 noncommercial applicators or technicians.
4-7 SECTION 5. Section 5(b), Texas Structural Pest Control Act
4-8 (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
4-9 as follows:
4-10 (b) An individual without a license may, on his own premises
4-11 or on premises in which he owns a partnership or joint venture
4-12 interest, or on the premises other than an apartment building as
4-13 defined in Section 4B of this Act, day-care center, hospital,
4-14 nursing home, hotel, motel, lodge, warehouse, food-processing
4-15 establishment, facility owned by the state or a political
4-16 subdivision of the state except as provided by Section 4B of this
4-17 Act, or school or educational institution, of an employer by whom
4-18 he was hired primarily to perform other services, use insecticides,
4-19 pesticides, rodenticides, fumigants, or allied chemicals or
4-20 substances or mechanical devices designed to prevent, control, or
4-21 eliminate pest infestations unless that use is prohibited by state
4-22 law or rule or by rule of the United States Environmental
4-23 Protection Agency or unless the substance used is labeled as a
4-24 restricted-use pesticide or a state-limited-use pesticide.
4-25 SECTION 6. Section 7(a), Texas Structural Pest Control Act
4-26 (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
4-27 as follows:
5-1 (a) An applicant for an initial or renewal Structural Pest
5-2 Control Endorsement of License or Business License shall accompany
5-3 his application with a fee of not more than $180 each, as
5-4 determined by the board, and a fee of not more than $84, as
5-5 determined by the board, for the license of each technician
5-6 employed by the applicant. An applicant for an initial or renewal
5-7 Certified <Commercial> Applicator's License shall accompany his
5-8 application with a fee of not more than $112.50 each, as determined
5-9 by the board, and a fee of not more than $84, as determined by the
5-10 board, for the license of each technician employed by the
5-11 applicant.
5-12 SECTION 7. Section 11, Texas Structural Pest Control Act
5-13 (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
5-14 as follows:
5-15 Sec. 11. Except for Section 4H(d) of this Act, the
5-16 provisions of this Act shall not apply to nor shall the following
5-17 persons be deemed to be engaging in the business of structural pest
5-18 control:
5-19 (1) a person who performs pest control work upon
5-20 property which he owns, leases, or rents as his dwelling;
5-21 (2) a person who performs pest control work on growing
5-22 plants, trees, shrubs, grass, or other horticultural plants if the
5-23 person:
5-24 (A) holds a Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, or Class
5-25 4 registration certificate from the Department of Agriculture under
5-26 Section 71.043, Agriculture Code; and
5-27 (B) holds a certified commercial or
6-1 noncommercial applicator's license from the Department of
6-2 Agriculture that covers that pest control work;
6-3 (3) a person or his employee who is engaged in the
6-4 business of agriculture or aerial application or custom application
6-5 of pesticides to agricultural lands; <and>
6-6 (4) a person who uses pest control chemicals that are
6-7 for household use and are available for purchase in retail food
6-8 stores, such as aerosol bombs and spray cans, if the insecticide is
6-9 used in accordance with the label directions on the insecticide or
6-10 board rules or guidelines, or as provided by Section 4B of this Act
6-11 and is:
6-12 (A) used by the owner or his employee or agent
6-13 in space occupied by the building owner in a residential building<,
6-14 office building, retail building, or industrial building>; or
6-15 (B) used in a place that is vacant, unused, and
6-16 unoccupied; and
6-17 (5) a person acting as a beekeeper, as defined by
6-18 Section 131.001, Agriculture Code, who:
6-19 (A) is registered with the chief apiary
6-20 inspector as provided by Chapter 131, Agriculture Code, and the
6-21 board;
6-22 (B) does not use pesticides or electrical
6-23 devices other than conventional bee smokers or other equipment as
6-24 defined by Section 131.001, Agriculture Code; and
6-25 (C) collects, removes, or destroys honey bees
6-26 not attached to a dwelling or structure occupied by the public.
6-27 SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
7-1 SECTION 9. The importance of this legislation and the
7-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.