By Driver                                             H.B. No. 3189
         76R6534 AJA-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the regulation of persons who install fire alarms.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 3(b), Article 5.43-2, Insurance Code, is
 1-5     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; or
4-17                 (11)  a person or organization licensed to install or
4-18     service burglar alarms under the Private Investigators and Private
4-19     Security Agencies Act (Article 4413(29bb), Vernon's Texas Civil
4-20     Statutes) that provides and installs in a single-family or
4-21     two-family residence a combination keypad that includes a panic
4-22     button to initiate a fire alarm signal if the fire alarm signal:
4-23                       (A)  is monitored by a fire alarm firm registered
4-24     under this article; and
4-25                       (B)  is not initiated by any fire or smoke
4-26     detection device.
4-27           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 5-1           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 5-2     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 5-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 5-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 5-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.