By Driver H.B. No. 3189
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the sale, servicing, installation, or monitoring of
1-3 fire alarms or fire detection devices.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 3(b), Article 5.43-2, Insurance Code, is
1-6 amended to read as follows:
1-7 (b) The licensing provisions of this article shall not apply
1-8 to:
1-9 (1) a person or organization in the business of
1-10 building construction that installs electrical wiring and devices
1-11 that may include in part the installation of a fire alarm or
1-12 detection system if:
1-13 (A) the person or organization is a party to a
1-14 contract that provides that the installation will be performed
1-15 under the direct supervision of and certified by a licensed
1-16 employee or agent of a firm registered to install and certify such
1-17 an alarm or detection device and that the registered firm assumes
1-18 full responsibility for the installation of the alarm or detection
1-19 device; and
1-20 (B) the person or organization does not plan,
1-21 certify, lease, sell, service, or maintain fire alarms or detection
1-22 devices or systems;
1-23 (2) a person or organization that owns and installs
1-24 fire detection or fire alarm devices on the person's or
2-1 organization's own property or, if the person or organization does
2-2 not charge for the device or its installation, installs it for the
2-3 protection of the person's or organization's personal property
2-4 located on another's property and does not install the devices as a
2-5 normal business practice on the property of another;
2-6 (3) a person who holds a license or other form of
2-7 permission issued by an incorporated city or town to practice as an
2-8 electrician and who installs fire or smoke detection and alarm
2-9 devices in no building other than a single family or multifamily
2-10 residence if:
2-11 (A) the devices installed are:
2-12 (i) single station detectors; or
2-13 (ii) multiple station detectors capable of
2-14 being connected in such a manner that actuation of one detector
2-15 causes all integral or separate alarms to operate, if the detectors
2-16 are not connected to a control panel or to an outside alarm, do not
2-17 transmit a signal off the premises, and do not use more than 120
2-18 volts; and
2-19 (B) all installations comply with provisions of
2-20 the adopted edition of Household Fire Warning Equipment, National
2-21 Fire Protection Association Standard No. 74;
2-22 (4) a person or organization that sells fire detection
2-23 or fire alarm devices if the sales are exclusively over-the-counter
2-24 or by mail order and if the person or organization does not plan,
2-25 certify, install, service, or maintain this equipment;
2-26 (5) response to a fire alarm or detection device by a
2-27 law enforcement agency or fire department or by a law enforcement
3-1 officer or fireman acting in an official capacity;
3-2 (6) a Texas registered professional engineer acting
3-3 solely in his professional capacity;
3-4 (7) a person or an organization that provides and
3-5 installs at no charge to the property owners or residents a
3-6 battery-powered smoke detector in a single-family or two-family
3-7 residence if:
3-8 (A) the smoke detector bears a label of listing
3-9 or approval by a testing laboratory approved by the State Board of
3-10 Insurance;
3-11 (B) the installation complies with provisions of
3-12 the adopted edition of National Fire Protection Association
3-13 Standard No. 74;
3-14 (C) the installers are knowledgeable in fire
3-15 protection and the proper use of smoke detectors; and
3-16 (D) the detector is a single station
3-17 installation and not a part of or connected to any other detection
3-18 device or system;
3-19 (8) a regular employee of a registered firm who is
3-20 under the direct supervision of a licensee;
3-21 (9) a building owner, the owner's managing agent, or
3-22 their employees who install battery-operated single-station smoke
3-23 detectors or who monitor fire alarm or fire detection devices or
3-24 systems in the owner's building, and in which the monitoring is
3-25 performed at the owner's property and monitored at no charge to the
3-26 occupants of the building, and complies with applicable standards
3-27 of the National Fire Protection Association as may be adopted by
4-1 rule promulgated under this Act, and utilizes equipment approved by
4-2 a testing laboratory approved by the State Board of Insurance for
4-3 fire alarm monitoring; [or]
4-4 (10) a person employed by a registered firm that sells
4-5 and installs a smoke or heat detector in a single-family or
4-6 two-family residence if:
4-7 (A) the detector bears a label of listing or
4-8 approval by a testing laboratory approved by the State Board of
4-9 Insurance;
4-10 (B) the installation complies with provisions of
4-11 the adopted edition of National Fire Protection Association
4-12 Standard No. 74;
4-13 (C) the installers are knowledgeable in fire
4-14 protection and the proper use and placement of detectors; and
4-15 (D) the detector is a single station
4-16 installation and not a part of or connected to any other detection
4-17 device or system; or
4-18 (11) a person or organization licensed to install or
4-19 service burglar alarms under the Private Investigators and Private
4-20 Security Agencies Act (Article 4413(29bb), Vernon's Texas Civil
4-21 Statutes) that provides and installs in a single-family or
4-22 two-family residence a combination keypad that includes a panic
4-23 button to initiate a fire alarm signal if the fire alarm signal:
4-24 (A) is monitored by a fire alarm firm registered
4-25 under this article; and
4-26 (B) is not initiated by any fire or smoke
4-27 detection device.
5-1 SECTION 2. Section 7, Article 5.43-2, Insurance Code, is
5-2 amended to read as follows:
5-3 Sec. 7. CERTAIN ACTS PROHIBITED. (a) No person or
5-4 organization may do any of the following:
5-5 (1) plan, certify, lease, sell, service, install,
5-6 monitor, or maintain fire alarm or fire detection devices or
5-7 systems without a valid license or certificate of registration;
5-8 (2) obtain or attempt to obtain a license or
5-9 certificate of registration by fraudulent representation; or
5-10 (3) plan, certify, lease, sell, service, install,
5-11 monitor, or maintain fire alarm or fire detection devices or
5-12 systems contrary to the provisions of this article or the rules
5-13 formulated by the board under the authority of this article.
5-14 (b) A political subdivision may not sell, service, install,
5-15 or monitor residential fire alarm or fire detection devices unless
5-16 it provides the services only to residences within the boundaries
5-17 of the political subdivision and it is providing these services to
5-18 residences on September 1, 1999. This subsection does not prohibit
5-19 response to a fire alarm or detection device by a law enforcement
5-20 agency or fire department or by a law enforcement officer or
5-21 firefighter acting in an official capacity. This subsection does
5-22 not apply to a political subdivision with a population of less than
5-23 35,000.
5-24 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
5-25 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-26 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-27 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-1 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-2 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.