By: Oakley H.B. No. 2405
73R4294 JRD-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the regulatory authority of the Texas Commission on
1-3 Fire Protection.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Sections 419.021(1), (2), (3), and (5),
1-6 Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-7 (1) "Aircraft crash and rescue fire protection
1-8 personnel" means permanent, fully paid<, full-time> local
1-9 governmental employees who, as a permanent duty assignment, fight
1-10 aircraft fires at airports, stand by for potential crash landings,
1-11 and perform aircraft crash rescue.
1-12 (2) "Fire department" means a department of a local
1-13 government with permanent, fully paid<, full-time> employees
1-14 organized to prevent or suppress fires.
1-15 (3) "Fire protection personnel" means:
1-16 (A) permanent, fully paid<, full-time> law
1-17 enforcement officers designated as fire and arson investigators by
1-18 an appropriate local authority;
1-19 (B) aircraft crash and rescue fire protection
1-20 personnel; or
1-21 (C) permanent, fully paid<, full-time> fire
1-22 department employees who are not secretaries, stenographers,
1-23 clerks, budget analysts, or similar support staff persons or other
1-24 administrative employees and who are assigned duties in one or more
2-1 of the following categories:
2-2 (i) fire suppression;
2-3 (ii) fire inspection;
2-4 (iii) fire and arson investigation;
2-5 (iv) marine fire fighting;
2-6 (v) aircraft crash fire fighting and
2-7 rescue;
2-8 (vi) fire training;
2-9 (vii) fire education;
2-10 (viii) fire administration; and
2-11 (ix) any other position necessarily or
2-12 customarily related to fire prevention and suppression.
2-13 (5) "Marine fire protection personnel" means
2-14 permanent, fully paid<, full-time> local governmental employees who
2-15 work aboard a fireboat and fight fires that occur on or adjacent to
2-16 a waterway, waterfront, channel, or turning basin.
2-17 SECTION 2. Subchapter E, Chapter 419, Government Code, is
2-18 amended by adding Section 419.087 to read as follows:
2-19 Sec. 419.087. MANDATORY REGULATION OF CERTAIN
2-20 NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS AND PERSONNEL. (a) In this section,
2-21 "fire department," "fire protection personnel," and "local
2-22 government" have the meanings assigned by Section 419.021.
2-23 (b) An organization that is not a local government, a
2-24 department of a local government, or a state or federal agency is
2-25 subject to regulation by the commission under Subchapter B if the
2-26 organization:
2-27 (1) provides fire protection for a local government
3-1 under a contract or other agreement with the local government; and
3-2 (2) would be a fire department if it were a department
3-3 of a local government.
3-4 (c) A person who is not an employee of a local government or
3-5 of a state or federal agency is subject to regulation by the
3-6 commission under Subchapter B if the person:
3-7 (1) provides fire protection for a local government
3-8 under a contract or other agreement between the local government
3-9 and either the person or an organization subject to regulation
3-10 under Subsection (b); and
3-11 (2) would be fire protection personnel if employed by
3-12 a local government.
3-13 (d) A person or organization that is subject to regulation
3-14 by the commission under this section is subject to Subchapter B and
3-15 applicable commission rules to the same extent that Subchapter B
3-16 and applicable commission rules apply to a fire department or to
3-17 fire protection personnel.
3-18 (e) The commission may create a separate certification class
3-19 for persons regulated under this section.
3-20 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
3-21 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.