1-1 By: Driver (Senate Sponsor - Jackson) H.B. No. 3189
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 11, 1999;
1-3 May 12, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on Economic
1-4 Development; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the sale, servicing, installation, or monitoring of
1-9 fire alarms or fire detection devices.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 3(b), Article 5.43-2, Insurance Code, is
1-12 amended to read as follows:
1-13 (b) The licensing provisions of this article shall not apply
1-14 to:
1-15 (1) a person or organization in the business of
1-16 building construction that installs electrical wiring and devices
1-17 that may include in part the installation of a fire alarm or
1-18 detection system if:
1-19 (A) the person or organization is a party to a
1-20 contract that provides that the installation will be performed
1-21 under the direct supervision of and certified by a licensed
1-22 employee or agent of a firm registered to install and certify such
1-23 an alarm or detection device and that the registered firm assumes
1-24 full responsibility for the installation of the alarm or detection
1-25 device; and
1-26 (B) the person or organization does not plan,
1-27 certify, lease, sell, service, or maintain fire alarms or detection
1-28 devices or systems;
1-29 (2) a person or organization that owns and installs
1-30 fire detection or fire alarm devices on the person's or
1-31 organization's own property or, if the person or organization does
1-32 not charge for the device or its installation, installs it for the
1-33 protection of the person's or organization's personal property
1-34 located on another's property and does not install the devices as a
1-35 normal business practice on the property of another;
1-36 (3) a person who holds a license or other form of
1-37 permission issued by an incorporated city or town to practice as an
1-38 electrician and who installs fire or smoke detection and alarm
1-39 devices in no building other than a single family or multifamily
1-40 residence if:
1-41 (A) the devices installed are:
1-42 (i) single station detectors; or
1-43 (ii) multiple station detectors capable of
1-44 being connected in such a manner that actuation of one detector
1-45 causes all integral or separate alarms to operate, if the detectors
1-46 are not connected to a control panel or to an outside alarm, do not
1-47 transmit a signal off the premises, and do not use more than 120
1-48 volts; and
1-49 (B) all installations comply with provisions of
1-50 the adopted edition of Household Fire Warning Equipment, National
1-51 Fire Protection Association Standard No. 74;
1-52 (4) a person or organization that sells fire detection
1-53 or fire alarm devices if the sales are exclusively over-the-counter
1-54 or by mail order and if the person or organization does not plan,
1-55 certify, install, service, or maintain this equipment;
1-56 (5) response to a fire alarm or detection device by a
1-57 law enforcement agency or fire department or by a law enforcement
1-58 officer or fireman acting in an official capacity;
1-59 (6) a Texas registered professional engineer acting
1-60 solely in his professional capacity;
1-61 (7) a person or an organization that provides and
1-62 installs at no charge to the property owners or residents a
1-63 battery-powered smoke detector in a single-family or two-family
1-64 residence if:
2-1 (A) the smoke detector bears a label of listing
2-2 or approval by a testing laboratory approved by the State Board of
2-3 Insurance;
2-4 (B) the installation complies with provisions of
2-5 the adopted edition of National Fire Protection Association
2-6 Standard No. 74;
2-7 (C) the installers are knowledgeable in fire
2-8 protection and the proper use of smoke detectors; and
2-9 (D) the detector is a single station
2-10 installation and not a part of or connected to any other detection
2-11 device or system;
2-12 (8) a regular employee of a registered firm who is
2-13 under the direct supervision of a licensee;
2-14 (9) a building owner, the owner's managing agent, or
2-15 their employees who install battery-operated single-station smoke
2-16 detectors or who monitor fire alarm or fire detection devices or
2-17 systems in the owner's building, and in which the monitoring is
2-18 performed at the owner's property and monitored at no charge to the
2-19 occupants of the building, and complies with applicable standards
2-20 of the National Fire Protection Association as may be adopted by
2-21 rule promulgated under this Act, and utilizes equipment approved by
2-22 a testing laboratory approved by the State Board of Insurance for
2-23 fire alarm monitoring; [or]
2-24 (10) a person employed by a registered firm that sells
2-25 and installs a smoke or heat detector in a single-family or
2-26 two-family residence if:
2-27 (A) the detector bears a label of listing or
2-28 approval by a testing laboratory approved by the State Board of
2-29 Insurance;
2-30 (B) the installation complies with provisions of
2-31 the adopted edition of National Fire Protection Association
2-32 Standard No. 74;
2-33 (C) the installers are knowledgeable in fire
2-34 protection and the proper use and placement of detectors; and
2-35 (D) the detector is a single station
2-36 installation and not a part of or connected to any other detection
2-37 device or system; or
2-38 (11) a person or organization licensed to install or
2-39 service burglar alarms under the Private Investigators and Private
2-40 Security Agencies Act (Article 4413(29bb), Vernon's Texas Civil
2-41 Statutes) that provides and installs in a single-family or
2-42 two-family residence a combination keypad that includes a panic
2-43 button to initiate a fire alarm signal if the fire alarm signal:
2-44 (A) is monitored by a fire alarm firm registered
2-45 under this article; and
2-46 (B) is not initiated by any fire or smoke
2-47 detection device.
2-48 SECTION 2. Section 7, Article 5.43-2, Insurance Code, is
2-49 amended to read as follows:
2-50 Sec. 7. CERTAIN ACTS PROHIBITED. (a) No person or
2-51 organization may do any of the following:
2-52 (1) plan, certify, lease, sell, service, install,
2-53 monitor, or maintain fire alarm or fire detection devices or
2-54 systems without a valid license or certificate of registration;
2-55 (2) obtain or attempt to obtain a license or
2-56 certificate of registration by fraudulent representation; or
2-57 (3) plan, certify, lease, sell, service, install,
2-58 monitor, or maintain fire alarm or fire detection devices or
2-59 systems contrary to the provisions of this article or the rules
2-60 formulated by the board under the authority of this article.
2-61 (b) A political subdivision may not sell, service, install,
2-62 or monitor residential fire alarm or fire detection devices unless
2-63 it provides the services only to residences within the boundaries
2-64 of the political subdivision and it is providing these services to
2-65 residences on September 1, 1999. This subsection does not prohibit
2-66 response to a fire alarm or detection device by a law enforcement
2-67 agency or fire department or by a law enforcement officer or
2-68 firefighter acting in an official capacity. This subsection does
2-69 not apply to a political subdivision with a population of less than
3-1 35,000.
3-2 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-3 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-4 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-5 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-6 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-7 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
3-8 * * * * *