By:  Patterson                                        S.B. No. 1010
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the bonding or insurance requirements of certain
    1-2  political subdivisions for the performance of plumbing work.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 15, The Plumbing License Law (Article
    1-5  6243-101, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as
    1-6  follows:
    1-7        Sec. 15.  LOCAL <MUNICIPAL> RULES AND REGULATIONS.
    1-8  (a)  Every city in this state of more than five thousand (5,000)
    1-9  inhabitants shall, and any city or town of this state may, by
   1-10  ordinance or by-law, prescribe rules and regulations for the
   1-11  materials, construction, alteration and inspection of all pipes,
   1-12  faucets, tanks, valves and other fixtures by and through which a
   1-13  supply of water, gas or sewage is used or carried; and provided
   1-14  that they shall not be placed in any building therein except in
   1-15  accordance with such rules and regulations; and shall further
   1-16  provide that no plumbing shall be done except in case of repairing
   1-17  of leaks, without a permit being first issued therefor upon such
   1-18  terms and conditions as such city or town shall prescribe; provided
   1-19  that no such ordinance, by-law, rule or regulation prescribed by
   1-20  any such city or town shall be inconsistent with this Act, or any
   1-21  rule or regulation adopted or prescribed by the State Board of
   1-22  Plumbing Examiners.
   1-23        (b)  A political subdivision that requires a master plumber
    2-1  to have a bond before the plumber may be issued a permit shall
    2-2  accept a certificate of insurance that meets the requirements of
    2-3  this subsection in lieu of a bond.  The certificate of insurance
    2-4  must be written by a company licensed to do business in this state
    2-5  and provide for commercial general liability insurance for the
    2-6  master plumber for claims for property damage or bodily injury,
    2-7  without regard to whether the claim is based on negligence or
    2-8  contract, in an amount not less than $300,000 coverage for all
    2-9  claims in any one year.
   2-10        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-11        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-12  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-13  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-14  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-15  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.