1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the sale, servicing, installation, or monitoring of
1-3 fire alarms, fire detection devices, or other alarm systems.
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) Except as provided by Subsection (c), a political
5-15 subdivision may not offer residential alarm system sales, service,
5-16 installation, or monitoring unless it has been providing monitoring
5-17 services to residences within the boundaries of the political
5-18 subdivision as of September 1, 1999. Any fee charged by the
5-19 political subdivision may not exceed the cost of the monitoring.
5-20 (c) A political subdivision may:
5-21 (1) offer service, installing, or monitoring for
5-22 property owned by the political subdivision or another political
5-23 subdivision;
5-24 (2) allow for the response of an alarm or detection
5-25 device by a law enforcement agency or fire department or by a law
5-26 enforcement officer or firefighter acting in an official capacity;
5-27 or
6-1 (3) offer monitoring to a financial institution, as
6-2 defined by Section 59.301, Finance Code, that requests, in writing,
6-3 that the political subdivision provide monitoring service to the
6-4 financial institution.
6-5 (d) The limitations in Subsection (b) do not apply to a
6-6 political subdivision in a county with a population of less than
6-7 80,000 or in a political subdivision where monitoring is not
6-8 otherwise provided or available.
6-9 (e) For purposes of Subsections (b), (c), and (d), the
6-10 definition of "monitoring" means the receipt of fire alarm or
6-11 supervisory signals or retransmission or communication of those
6-12 signals to a fire service communications center that is located in
6-13 this state or serves property in this state. This is not intended
6-14 to require a political subdivision to be licensed under Article
6-15 5.43-2, Insurance Code.
6-16 SECTION 3. Subsections (d), (e), and (f), Section 13,
6-17 Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies Act (Article
6-18 4413(29bb), Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), as added by H.B. No.
6-19 2617, Acts of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999, are
6-20 amended to read as follows:
6-21 (d) Except as provided by Subsection (e), a political
6-22 subdivision may not offer residential alarm system sales, service,
6-23 installation, or monitoring unless it has been providing monitoring
6-24 services to residences within the boundaries of the political
6-25 subdivision as of September 1, 1999. Any fee charged by the
6-26 political subdivision may not exceed the cost of the monitoring.
6-27 (e) A political subdivision may:
7-1 (1) offer service, installation, or monitoring for
7-2 property owned by the political subdivision or another political
7-3 subdivision;
7-4 (2) allow for the response of an alarm or detection
7-5 device by a law enforcement agency or by a law enforcement officer
7-6 acting in an official capacity; or
7-7 (3) offer monitoring in connection with a criminal
7-8 investigation; or
7-9 (4) offer monitoring to a financial institution, as
7-10 defined by Section 59.301, Finance Code, that requests, in writing,
7-11 that the political subdivision provide monitoring service to the
7-12 financial institution.
7-13 (f) The limitations of Subsection (d) do not apply to a
7-14 political subdivision in a county with a population of less than
7-15 80,000 or in a political subdivision where monitoring is not
7-16 otherwise provided or available.
7-17 SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
7-18 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
7-19 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-20 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-21 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-22 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3189 was passed by the House on May
11, 1999, by a non-record vote; and that the House concurred in
Senate amendments to H.B. No. 3189 on May 27, 1999, by a non-record
vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 3189 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 25, 1999, by a viva-voce vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: _____________________
Date
_____________________
Governor