By Carona                                              H.B. No. 799
       74R1144 PB-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to an exemption from the Residential Service Company Act
    1-3  for persons who are licensed to perform air conditioning and
    1-4  refrigeration contracting.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Section 25, Residential Service Company Act
    1-7  (Article 6573b, Revised Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 25.  Exemptions.  The provisions of this Act shall not
    1-9  apply to any of the following persons and transactions, and each
   1-10  and all of the following persons and transactions are hereby
   1-11  exempted from the provisions of this Act, to wit:
   1-12              (a)  performance guarantees given by either the builder
   1-13  of a home or the manufacturer or seller of an appliance or other
   1-14  system or component;
   1-15              (b)  any residential service contract executed on or
   1-16  before the effective date of this Act;
   1-17              (c)  any service contract, guarantee, or warranty
   1-18  intending to guarantee or warrant the repairs or service of a home
   1-19  appliance, system, or component, provided such service contract,
   1-20  guarantee, or warranty is issued by a person who has sold,
   1-21  serviced, repaired, or provided replacement of such appliance,
   1-22  system, or component at the time of, or prior to the issuance of
   1-23  such contract, guarantee, or warranty; and provided further that
   1-24  the person issuing the service contract, guarantee, or warranty
    2-1  does not engage in the business of a service company;
    2-2              (d)  any person engaging in the business of structural
    2-3  pest control in compliance with the Texas Structural Pest Control
    2-4  Act, as amended (Article 135b-6, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes,
    2-5  1925);
    2-6              (e)  any person who performs air conditioning and
    2-7  refrigeration contracting in compliance with the Air Conditioning
    2-8  and Refrigeration Contractor License Law (Article 8861, Vernon's
    2-9  Texas Civil Statutes); and
   2-10              (f)  any service or maintenance contract or agreement,
   2-11  or warranty, which provides for, warrants, or guarantees, the
   2-12  maintenance, repair, service, replacement, or operation or
   2-13  performance, of any product or part thereof, including but not
   2-14  limited to a structural component, the appliances, or the
   2-15  electrical, plumbing, heating, cooling or air-conditioning systems
   2-16  in or of a building or residence, provided such service or
   2-17  maintenance contract or agreement, or warranty is sold, offered for
   2-18  sale, or issued by the manufacturer or merchant who manufactured or
   2-19  sold such product or part thereof.
   2-20        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-21  applies only to a residential service contract that is entered into
   2-22  on or after that date.  A residential service contract that is
   2-23  entered into before that date is governed by the law in effect on
   2-24  the date that the contract is entered into, and the former law is
   2-25  continued in effect for that purpose.
   2-26        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-27  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-1  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-2  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-3  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.