By: Black H.B. No. 1262
73R3540 JMM-D
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. Sections 4B(b), (c), (d), and (f), Texas
2-2 Structural Pest Control Act (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil
2-3 Statutes), are amended to read as follows:
2-4 (b) An individual must be licensed as a certified
2-5 noncommercial applicator or technician if the individual is not
2-6 licensed as a certified commercial applicator and the individual:
2-7 (1) is an employee of the state or a city or county
2-8 and engages in the business of structural pest control; or
2-9 (2) is an employee of a person who owns, operates, or
2-10 maintains a building, the individual engages in the business of
2-11 structural pest control <in the building>, and the building is an
2-12 apartment building; day-care center; hospital; nursing home; hotel;
2-13 motel; lodge; warehouse; food-processing establishment, other than
2-14 a restaurant, retail food, or food service establishment; school or
2-15 educational institution.
2-16 (c) An individual licensed as a certified noncommercial
2-17 applicator or technician may not engage in the business of
2-18 structural pest control outside the scope of the employment for
2-19 which the individual has been licensed as a certified noncommercial
2-20 applicator or technician unless the individual becomes licensed as
2-21 otherwise provided by this Act.
2-22 (d) An owner of a building that is an apartment building;
2-23 day-care center; hospital; nursing home; hotel; motel; lodge;
2-24 warehouse; food-processing establishment, other than a restaurant,
2-25 retail food, or food service establishment; school or educational
2-26 institution, may obtain pest control services <for the building>
2-27 from a person only by:
3-1 (1) contracting with a business that has a structural
3-2 pest control business license; or
3-3 (2) requiring an employee of the owner, who is
3-4 licensed as a certified noncommercial applicator or technician, to
3-5 perform the services.
3-6 (f) An individual licensed as a certified noncommercial
3-7 applicator or technician may engage in the business of structural
3-8 pest control as provided by this section without association with a
3-9 business that has been issued a structural pest control business
3-10 license. The board may adopt insurance requirements for certified
3-11 noncommercial applicators or technicians.
3-12 SECTION 4. Section 5(b), Texas Structural Pest Control Act
3-13 (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
3-14 as follows:
3-15 (b) An individual without a license may, on his own premises
3-16 or on premises in which he owns a partnership or joint venture
3-17 interest, or on the premises other than an apartment building as
3-18 defined in Section 4B of this Act, day-care center, hospital,
3-19 nursing home, hotel, motel, lodge, warehouse, food-processing
3-20 establishment, or school or educational institution, of an employer
3-21 by whom he was hired only <primarily> to perform other services,
3-22 use insecticides, pesticides, rodenticides, fumigants, or allied
3-23 chemicals or substances or mechanical devices designed to prevent,
3-24 control, or eliminate pest infestations unless that use is
3-25 prohibited by state law or rule or by rule of the United States
3-26 Environmental Protection Agency or unless the substance used is
3-27 labeled as a restricted-use pesticide or a state-limited-use
4-1 pesticide.
4-2 SECTION 5. Section 7(a), Texas Structural Pest Control Act
4-3 (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
4-4 as follows:
4-5 (a) An applicant for an initial or renewal Structural Pest
4-6 Control Endorsement of License or Business License shall accompany
4-7 his application with a fee of not more than $180 each, as
4-8 determined by the board, and a fee of not more than $84, as
4-9 determined by the board, for the license of each technician
4-10 employed by the applicant. An applicant for an initial or renewal
4-11 Certified <Commercial> Applicator's License shall accompany his
4-12 application with a fee of not more than $112.50 each, as determined
4-13 by the board, and a fee of not more than $84, as determined by the
4-14 board, for the license of each technician employed by the
4-15 applicant.
4-16 SECTION 6. Section 11, Texas Structural Pest Control Act
4-17 (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
4-18 as follows:
4-19 Sec. 11. EXCEPTIONS. Except for Section 4H(d) of this Act,
4-20 the provisions of this Act shall not apply to nor shall the
4-21 following persons be deemed to be engaging in the business of
4-22 structural pest control:
4-23 (1) a person who performs pest control work upon
4-24 property which he owns, leases, or rents as his dwelling;
4-25 (2) a person who performs pest control work on growing
4-26 plants, trees, shrubs, grass, or other horticultural plants if the
4-27 person:
5-1 (A) holds a Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, or Class
5-2 4 registration certificate from the Department of Agriculture under
5-3 Section 71.043, Agriculture Code; and
5-4 (B) holds a certified commercial or
5-5 noncommercial applicator's license from the Department of
5-6 Agriculture that covers that pest control work;
5-7 (3) a person or his employee who is engaged in the
5-8 business of agriculture or aerial application or custom application
5-9 of pesticides to agricultural lands; and
5-10 (4) a person who uses pest control chemicals that are
5-11 for household use and are available for purchase in retail food
5-12 stores, such as aerosol bombs and spray cans, if the insecticide is
5-13 used in accordance with the label directions on the insecticide
5-14 <board rules or guidelines> and is:
5-15 (A) used by the owner or his employee or agent
5-16 in space occupied by the building owner in a residential building<,
5-17 office building, retail building, or industrial building>; or
5-18 (B) used in a place that is vacant, unused, and
5-19 unoccupied.
5-20 SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
5-21 SECTION 8. The importance of this legislation and the
5-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.