By Armbrister                                          S.B. No. 266
       74R2945 PB-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to an exemption from the regulation of air conditioning
    1-3  and refrigeration contractors.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 6(a), 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        (a)  This Act does not apply to a person who:
    1-9              (1)  performs air conditioning and refrigeration
   1-10  contracting in a building owned solely by him as his home;
   1-11              (2)  performs air conditioning or refrigeration
   1-12  maintenance work if (i) the person is a maintenance man or
   1-13  maintenance engineer who is a regular bona fide employee of the
   1-14  property owner, the property lessee, or the management company
   1-15  managing the property where the maintenance work is being
   1-16  performed, (ii) the work is performed in connection with the
   1-17  business in which the person is employed, and (iii) the person and
   1-18  the person's employer referred to in (i) above do not engage in the
   1-19  occupation of air conditioning and refrigeration contracting for
   1-20  the general public;
   1-21              (3)  performs air conditioning and refrigeration
   1-22  contracting and is regularly employed by a regulated electric or
   1-23  gas utility;
   1-24              (4)  is licensed as a professional engineer under The
    2-1  Texas Engineering Practice Act (Article 3271a, Vernon's Texas Civil
    2-2  Statutes), performs work in connection with the business in which
    2-3  the person is employed, and does not engage in the practice of air
    2-4  conditioning and refrigeration contracting for the general public;
    2-5              (5)  performs process cooling or heating work for an
    2-6  industrial operation such as a chemical plant, petrochemical plant,
    2-7  refinery, natural gas plant, or natural gas treating plant <when
    2-8  employed by that operation>;
    2-9              (6)  performs air conditioning and refrigeration
   2-10  contracting on:
   2-11                    (A)  a portable or self-contained ductless air
   2-12  conditioning or refrigeration product that has a cooling capacity
   2-13  of three tons or less;
   2-14                    (B)  a portable or self-contained heating product
   2-15  that does not require the forced movement of air outside the
   2-16  heating unit; or
   2-17                    (C)  environmental air conditioning equipment
   2-18  that is intended for temporary use and is not fixed in place; or
   2-19              (7)  performs air conditioning services only on a motor
   2-20  vehicle air conditioning unit or who employs a person who performs
   2-21  air conditioning services only on a motor vehicle air conditioning
   2-22  unit.
   2-23        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   2-24        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-25  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-26  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-27  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-1  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.