By: Armbrister S.B. No. 478
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to an exemption of certain fire alarm devices from certain
1-2 license requirements.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subsection (b), Section 3, Article 5.43-2,
1-5 Insurance Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-6 (b) The licensing provisions of this article shall not apply
1-7 to:
1-8 (1) a person or organization in the business of
1-9 building construction that installs electrical wiring and devices
1-10 that may include in part the installation of a fire alarm or
1-11 detection system if:
1-12 (A) the person or organization is a party to a
1-13 contract that provides that the installation will be performed
1-14 under the direct supervision of and certified by a licensed
1-15 employee or agent of a firm registered to install and certify such
1-16 an alarm or detection device and that the registered firm assumes
1-17 full responsibility for the installation of the alarm or detection
1-18 device; and
1-19 (B) the person or organization does not plan,
1-20 certify, lease, sell, service, or maintain fire alarms or detection
1-21 devices or systems;
1-22 (2) a person or organization that owns and installs
1-23 fire detection or fire alarm devices on the person's or
1-24 organization's own property or, if the person or organization does
2-1 not charge for the device or its installation, installs it for the
2-2 protection of the person's or organization's personal property
2-3 located on another's property and does not install the devices as a
2-4 normal business practice on the property of another;
2-5 (3) a person who holds a license or other form of
2-6 permission issued by an incorporated city or town to practice as an
2-7 electrician and who installs fire or smoke detection and alarm
2-8 devices in no building other than a single family or multifamily
2-9 residence if:
2-10 (A) the devices installed are:
2-11 (i) single station detectors; or
2-12 (ii) multiple station detectors capable of
2-13 being connected in such a manner that actuation of one detector
2-14 causes all integral or separate alarms to operate, if the detectors
2-15 are not connected to a control panel or to an outside alarm, do not
2-16 transmit a signal off the premises, and do not use more than 120
2-17 volts; and
2-18 (B) all installations comply with provisions of
2-19 the adopted edition of Household Fire Warning Equipment, National
2-20 Fire Protection Association Standard No. 74;
2-21 (4) a person or organization that sells fire detection
2-22 or fire alarm devices if the sales are exclusively over-the-counter
2-23 or by mail order and if the person or organization does not plan,
2-24 certify, install, service, or maintain this equipment;
2-25 (5) response to a fire alarm or detection device by a
2-26 law enforcement agency or fire department or by a law enforcement
2-27 officer or fireman acting in an official capacity;
3-1 (6) a Texas registered professional engineer acting
3-2 solely in his professional capacity;
3-3 (7) a person or an organization that provides and
3-4 installs at no charge to the property owners or residents a
3-5 battery-powered smoke detector in a single-family or two-family
3-6 residence if:
3-7 (A) the smoke detector bears a label of listing
3-8 or approval by a testing laboratory approved by the State Board of
3-9 Insurance;
3-10 (B) the installation complies with provisions of
3-11 the adopted edition of National Fire Protection Association
3-12 Standard No. 74;
3-13 (C) the installers are knowledgeable in fire
3-14 protection and the proper use of smoke detectors; and
3-15 (D) the detector is a single station
3-16 installation and not a part of or connected to any other detection
3-17 device or system;
3-18 (8) a regular employee of a registered firm who is
3-19 under the direct supervision of a licensee;
3-20 (9) a building owner, the owner's managing agent, or
3-21 their employees who install battery-operated single-station smoke
3-22 detectors or who monitor fire alarm or fire detection devices or
3-23 systems in the owner's building, and in which the monitoring is
3-24 performed at the owner's property and monitored at no charge to the
3-25 occupants of the building, and complies with applicable standards
3-26 of the National Fire Protection Association as may be adopted by
3-27 rule promulgated under this Act, and utilizes equipment approved by
4-1 a testing laboratory approved by the State Board of Insurance for
4-2 fire alarm monitoring; or
4-3 (10) a person employed by a registered firm that sells
4-4 and installs a smoke or heat detector in a single-family or
4-5 two-family residence if:
4-6 (A) the detector bears a label of listing or
4-7 approval by a testing laboratory approved by the State Board of
4-8 Insurance;
4-9 (B) the installation complies with provisions of
4-10 the adopted edition of National Fire Protection Association
4-11 Standard No. 74;
4-12 (C) the installers are knowledgeable in fire
4-13 protection and the proper use and placement of detectors; and
4-14 (D) the detector is a single station
4-15 installation and not a part of or connected to any other detection
4-16 device or system.
4-17 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
4-18 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
4-19 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
4-20 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-21 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
4-22 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
4-23 passage, and it is so enacted.