By Carona                                              H.B. No. 800
       74R3578 PB-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to municipal requirements regarding the regulation of air
    1-3  conditioning and refrigeration contractors.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 7, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration
    1-6  Contractor License Law (Article 8861, Vernon's Texas Civil
    1-7  Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
    1-8        Sec. 7.  REPORTING REQUIREMENT.  (a)  Each air conditioning
    1-9  and refrigeration contractor <person> licensed under this Act shall
   1-10  notify the municipal authority who has control of the enforcement
   1-11  of regulations relative to air conditioning and refrigeration
   1-12  contracting in the municipality in which the person is engaged in
   1-13  air conditioning and refrigeration contracting that the person has
   1-14  obtained a state license.
   1-15        (b)  The notification must be in the form required by the
   1-16  municipality.
   1-17        (c)  A fee imposed by a municipality on a contractor to
   1-18  provide notice under this section may not exceed the cost incurred
   1-19  by the municipality in recording the state license number of the
   1-20  contractor.
   1-21        SECTION 2.  Section 9, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration
   1-22  Contractor License Law (Article 8861, Vernon's Texas Civil
   1-23  Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
   1-24        Sec. 9.  Municipal Regulation.  (a)  A license issued by a
    2-1  municipality of this state that complies with the requirements of
    2-2  this section is valid under the terms of the license within that
    2-3  municipality.  However, a license issued under this Act is valid
    2-4  throughout the state, and the holder and people under supervision
    2-5  are not required to hold a municipal license to practice air
    2-6  conditioning and refrigeration contracting in any municipality
    2-7  within this state.
    2-8        (b)  An applicant for a municipal license must:
    2-9              (1)  pass an examination that is at least as
   2-10  comprehensive as the examination required by the commissioner for
   2-11  an air conditioning and refrigeration contractor license of the
   2-12  class of work that the municipal applicant proposes to perform; and
   2-13              (2)  meet experience requirements that are at least as
   2-14  strict as those required under Section 4(e) of this Act for an air
   2-15  conditioning and refrigeration contractor license.
   2-16        (c)  A municipality may by ordinance adopt and enforce
   2-17  standards for air conditioning and refrigeration contractors that
   2-18  are consistent with the standards established under this Act.  The
   2-19  municipality shall report violations of the ordinance to the
   2-20  commissioner not later than the 10th day after the date on which
   2-21  the municipality takes action to enforce the ordinance.  Conviction
   2-22  of an offense under the municipal ordinance is a ground for the
   2-23  denial, suspension, or revocation of a license issued under this
   2-24  Act.
   2-25        SECTION 3.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
   2-26  section, the change in law made by Section 9, Air Conditioning and
   2-27  Refrigeration Contractor License Law (Article 8861, Vernon's Texas
    3-1  Civil Statutes), as amended by this Act, applies to a municipal
    3-2  license that is issued or renewed on or after the effective date of
    3-3  this Act.  A municipality subject to that section shall adopt
    3-4  examination requirements in compliance with that  section not later
    3-5  than January 1, 1996.
    3-6        (b)  To continue to engage in the practice of air
    3-7  conditioning and refrigeration contracting after September 1, 1995,
    3-8  a person who holds a municipal license on the effective date of
    3-9  this Act must satisfy the examination requirements imposed under
   3-10  Section 9(b), Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractor License
   3-11  Law (Article 8861, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), as amended by
   3-12  this Act, not later than June 1, 1996.
   3-13        SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   3-14        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-15  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-16  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-17  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-18  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.