By: Craddick H.B. No. 1375
73R4613 JMM-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to pest control services provided by or for certain
1-3 persons on their own property.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Sections 4B(b) and (d), Texas Structural Pest
1-6 Control Act (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), are
1-7 amended to read as follows:
1-8 (b) An individual must be licensed as a certified
1-9 noncommercial applicator if the individual is not licensed as a
1-10 certified commercial applicator and the individual:
1-11 (1) is an employee of the state or a city or county
1-12 and engages in the business of structural pest control; or
1-13 (2) is an employee of a person who owns, operates, or
1-14 maintains a building, the individual engages in the business of
1-15 structural pest control in the building, and the building is a <an
1-16 apartment building;> day-care center; hospital; nursing home;
1-17 hotel; motel; lodge; warehouse; food-processing establishment,
1-18 other than a restaurant, retail food, or food service
1-19 establishment; school or educational institution.
1-20 (d) An owner of a building that is a <an apartment
1-21 building;> day-care center; hospital; nursing home; hotel; motel;
1-22 lodge; warehouse; food-processing establishment, other than a
1-23 restaurant, retail food, or food service establishment; school or
1-24 educational institution, may obtain pest control services for the
2-1 building from a person only by:
2-2 (1) contracting with a business that has a structural
2-3 pest control business license; or
2-4 (2) requiring an employee of the owner, who is
2-5 licensed as a certified noncommercial applicator, to perform the
2-6 services.
2-7 SECTION 2. Sections 4G(c), (d), and (e), Texas Structural
2-8 Pest Control Act (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes),
2-9 are amended to read as follows:
2-10 (c) For an indoor treatment at a residential rental property
2-11 with less than five rental units, including a single family,
2-12 duplex, triplex, or fourplex rental property, the certified
2-13 applicator, <or> technician, or other person providing pest
2-14 control services shall leave the pest control information sheet in
2-15 the residence at the time of each treatment.
2-16 (d) For an indoor treatment at a residential rental property
2-17 with five or more rental units, the certified applicator, <or>
2-18 technician, or other person providing pest control services shall
2-19 supply the pest control information sheet to the owner or manager
2-20 of the complex. The certified applicator, <or> technician, or
2-21 other person providing pest control services shall also supply the
2-22 owner or manager with a pest control sign. The owner or manager or
2-23 an employee or agent of the owner or manager, other than the
2-24 certified applicator, <or> technician, or other person providing
2-25 pest control services, shall notify residents who live in the
2-26 direct or adjacent area of the treatment by:
2-27 (1) posting the sign in an area of common access at
3-1 least 48 hours before each planned treatment; or
3-2 (2) distributing the information sheet at least 48
3-3 hours before each planned treatment by leaving the sheet on the
3-4 front door of each unit or in a conspicuous place inside each unit.
3-5 (e) For an indoor treatment at a workplace, the certified
3-6 applicator, <or> technician, or other person providing pest control
3-7 services shall supply the pest control information sheet and a pest
3-8 control sign to the employer or the building manager. The employer
3-9 or the building manager or an employee or agent of the owner or
3-10 manager, other than the certified applicator, <or> technician, or
3-11 other person providing pest control services, shall notify the
3-12 individuals who work at the workplace of the date of the planned
3-13 treatment by:
3-14 (1) posting the sign in an area of common access that
3-15 the individuals are likely to check on a regular basis at least 48
3-16 hours before each planned treatment; and
3-17 (2) providing the information sheet to any individual
3-18 working in the building on request of the individual if the request
3-19 is made during normal business hours.
3-20 SECTION 3. Section 4H(c), Texas Structural Pest Control Act
3-21 (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
3-22 as follows:
3-23 (c) For an outdoor treatment at a residential rental
3-24 property with fewer than five rental units, including a single
3-25 family, duplex, triplex, or fourplex rental property, the certified
3-26 applicator, <or> technician, or other person providing pest control
3-27 services shall leave the pest control information sheet at each
4-1 unit at the time of treatment.
4-2 SECTION 4. Section 5(b), 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 (b) An individual without a license may, on his own premises
4-6 or on premises in which he owns a partnership or joint venture
4-7 interest, or on the premises other than a <an apartment building as
4-8 defined in Section 4B of this Act,> day-care center, hospital,
4-9 nursing home, hotel, motel, lodge, warehouse, food-processing
4-10 establishment, or school or educational institution, of an employer
4-11 by whom he was hired primarily to perform other services, use
4-12 insecticides, pesticides, rodenticides, fumigants, or allied
4-13 chemicals or substances or mechanical devices designed to prevent,
4-14 control, or eliminate pest infestations unless that use is
4-15 prohibited by state law or rule or by rule of the United States
4-16 Environmental Protection Agency or unless the substance used is
4-17 labeled as a restricted-use pesticide or a state-limited-use
4-18 pesticide.
4-19 SECTION 5. Section 11, Texas Structural Pest Control Act
4-20 (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read
4-21 as follows:
4-22 Sec. 11. Except for Section 4H(d) of this Act, the
4-23 provisions of this Act shall not apply to nor shall the following
4-24 persons be deemed to be engaging in the business of structural pest
4-25 control:
4-26 (1) a person who performs pest control work upon
4-27 property which he owns, leases, or rents as his dwelling;
5-1 (2) a person who performs pest control work on growing
5-2 plants, trees, shrubs, grass, or other horticultural plants if the
5-3 person:
5-4 (A) holds a Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, or Class
5-5 4 registration certificate from the Department of Agriculture under
5-6 Section 71.043, Agriculture Code; and
5-7 (B) holds a certified commercial or
5-8 noncommercial applicator's license from the Department of
5-9 Agriculture that covers that pest control work
5-10 (3) a person or his employee who is engaged in the
5-11 business of agriculture or aerial application or custom application
5-12 of pesticides to agricultural lands; and
5-13 (4) a person who uses pest control chemicals <that are
5-14 for household use and are available for purchase in retail food
5-15 stores, such as aerosol bombs and spray cans,> if the insecticide
5-16 is used in accordance with board rules or guidelines and is:
5-17 (A) used by the owner or his employee or agent
5-18 in space occupied by the building owner in a residential building,
5-19 apartment building, office building, retail building, or industrial
5-20 building; or
5-21 (B) used in a place that is vacant, unused, and
5-22 unoccupied.
5-23 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the
5-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-26 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-27 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-1 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
6-2 passage, and it is so enacted.