1-1 By: Crabb (Senate Sponsor - Patterson) H.B. No. 1353
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House March 30, 1995;
1-3 April 3, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Intergovernmental Relations; April 12, 1995, reported favorably by
1-5 the following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0; April 12, 1995, sent to
1-6 printer.)
1-7 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-8 AN ACT
1-9 relating to the bonding or insurance requirements of a political
1-10 subdivision for the issuance of certain plumbing permits.
1-11 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12 SECTION 1. Section 15, The Plumbing License Law (Article
1-13 6243-101, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as
1-14 follows:
1-15 Sec. 15. LOCAL <MUNICIPAL> RULES AND REGULATIONS.
1-16 (a) Every city in this state of more than five thousand (5,000)
1-17 inhabitants shall, and any city or town of this state may, by
1-18 ordinance or by-law, prescribe rules and regulations for the
1-19 materials, construction, alteration and inspection of all pipes,
1-20 faucets, tanks, valves and other fixtures by and through which a
1-21 supply of water, gas or sewage is used or carried; and provided
1-22 that they shall not be placed in any building therein except in
1-23 accordance with such rules and regulations; and shall further
1-24 provide that no plumbing shall be done except in case of repairing
1-25 of leaks, without a permit being first issued therefor upon such
1-26 terms and conditions as such city or town shall prescribe; provided
1-27 that no such ordinance, by-law, rule or regulation prescribed by
1-28 any such city or town shall be inconsistent with this Act, or any
1-29 rule or regulation adopted or prescribed by the State Board of
1-30 Plumbing Examiners.
1-31 (b) A political subdivision that requires a master plumber
1-32 to have a bond before the master plumber may be issued a permit by
1-33 the subdivision shall also accept, instead of a bond, a certificate
1-34 of insurance that meets the requirements of Subsection (c) of this
1-35 section.
1-36 (c) A certificate of insurance must:
1-37 (1) be written by a company licensed to do business in
1-38 this state;
1-39 (2) provide for commercial general liability insurance
1-40 for the master plumber for claims for property damage or bodily
1-41 injury, regardless of whether the claim arises from a negligence
1-42 claim or on a contract claim; and
1-43 (3) be in a coverage amount of not less than $300,000
1-44 for all claims arising in any one-year period.
1-45 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
1-46 applies only to a permit issued to a master plumber by a political
1-47 subdivision on or after the effective date of this Act. A permit
1-48 issued before September 1, 1995, is governed by the law as it
1-49 existed before the effective date of this Act, and the former law
1-50 is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-51 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-52 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-53 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-54 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-55 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-56 * * * * *