By: Truan S.B. No. 908
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the regulation of plumbing.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Section 3, The Plumbing License Law (Article
1-4 6243-101, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as
1-5 follows:
1-6 Sec. 3. ACTS PERMITTED WITHOUT A LICENSE. The following
1-7 acts, work and conduct shall be expressly permitted without
1-8 license:
1-9 (a) Plumbing work done by a property owner in a building
1-10 owned or occupied by him as his homestead;
1-11 (b) Plumbing work done:
1-12 (1) outside the municipal limits of any organized
1-13 city, town, or village in this state and not within the
1-14 extraterritorial jurisdiction of a city, town, or village of 50,000
1-15 or more inhabitants;<,> or
1-16 (2) within a <any such> city, town, or village of less
1-17 than <five thousand (>5,000<)> inhabitants that is not within the
1-18 extraterritorial jurisdiction of a city, town, or village of 50,000
1-19 or more inhabitants, unless a license is required by ordinance in
1-20 the <such> city, town, or village of less than <five thousand
1-21 (>5,000<)> inhabitants;
1-22 (c) Plumbing work done by anyone who is regularly employed
1-23 as or acting as a maintenance man or maintenance engineer,
1-24 incidental to and in connection with the business in which he is
2-1 employed or engaged, and who does not engage in the occupation of a
2-2 plumber for the general public; construction, installation and
2-3 maintenance work done upon the premises or equipment of a railroad
2-4 by an employee thereof who does not engage in the occupation of a
2-5 plumber for the general public; and plumbing work done by persons
2-6 engaged by any public service company in the laying, maintenance
2-7 and operation of its service mains or lines to the point of
2-8 measurement and the installation, alteration, adjustment, repair,
2-9 removal and renovation of all types of appurtenances, equipment and
2-10 appliances, including doing all that is necessary to render the
2-11 appliances useable or serviceable; appliance installation and
2-12 service work done by anyone who is an appliance dealer or is
2-13 employed by an appliance dealer, and acting as an appliance
2-14 installation man or appliance service man in connecting appliances
2-15 to existing piping installations; water treatment installations,
2-16 exchanges, services, or repairs. Provided, however, that all work
2-17 and service herein named or referred to shall be subject to
2-18 inspection and approval in accordance with the terms of all local
2-19 valid city or municipal ordinances;
2-20 (d) Plumbing work done by a licensed irrigator or licensed
2-21 installer when working and licensed under Chapter 34, Water Code
2-22 <197, Acts of the 66th Legislature, Regular Session, 1979 (Article
2-23 8751, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes)>. A person holding a valid
2-24 license from the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners shall not
2-25 be required to be licensed by any other board or agency when
2-26 installing or working on a lawn irrigation system;
2-27 (e) Plumbing work done by an LP Gas installer when working
3-1 and licensed under Chapter 113, Natural Resources Code, as amended;
3-2 and
3-3 (f) Plumbing work done by an individual who owns a
3-4 groundwater well on a system supplied by that well, provided that
3-5 such system supplies water to no more than one household, an
3-6 agricultural enterprise, or a commercial enterprise that does not
3-7 supply raw or potable water to others.
3-8 SECTION 2. Section 15, The Plumbing License Law (Article
3-9 6243-101, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as
3-10 follows:
3-11 Sec. 15. Municipal Rules and Regulations. Every city or
3-12 town in this state of <more than five thousand (>5,000<)> or more
3-13 inhabitants shall, and any city or town of this state of less than
3-14 5,000 inhabitants may, by ordinance or by-law, prescribe rules and
3-15 regulations for the materials, construction, alteration and
3-16 inspection of all pipes, faucets, tanks, valves and other fixtures
3-17 by and through which a supply of water, gas or sewage is used or
3-18 carried; and provided that they shall not be placed in any building
3-19 therein except in accordance with such rules and regulations; and
3-20 shall further provide that no plumbing shall be done except in case
3-21 of repairing of leaks, without a permit being first issued therefor
3-22 upon such terms and conditions as such city or town shall
3-23 prescribe; provided that no such ordinance, by-law, rule or
3-24 regulation prescribed by any such city or town shall be
3-25 inconsistent with this Act, or any rule or regulation adopted or
3-26 prescribed by the State Board of Plumbing Examiners.
3-27 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
4-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-5 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-6 passage, and it is so enacted.