By: Madla S.B. No. 633
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the application of a fire code and fire code
1-2 inspections to certain buildings in unincorporated areas of a
1-3 county.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 235.002, Local Government
1-6 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-7 (a) The fire code applies only to the following buildings
1-8 [constructed] in an unincorporated area of the county:
1-9 (1) a commercial establishment, including an office
1-10 building or manufacturing facility; [and]
1-11 (2) a building that produces income, including a
1-12 single-unit or multi-unit rental property; and
1-13 (3) a public building.
1-14 SECTION 2. Section 235.004, Local Government Code, is
1-15 amended to read as follows:
1-16 Sec. 235.004. INSPECTIONS. (a) Upon adoption of an order
1-17 by the commissioners court, the [The] county shall periodically
1-18 inspect a building subject to this chapter to determine whether the
1-19 building complies with the fire code. The commissioners court by
1-20 order may establish the interval between initial and subsequent
1-21 inspections.
1-22 (b) The commissioners court may provide that a county
1-23 employee or an employee of another governmental entity under
1-24 intergovernmental contract may perform an [the] inspection.
2-1 (c) A building inspector may enter and perform an initial
2-2 [the] inspection at a reasonable time at any stage of the
2-3 building's construction and after completion of the building.
2-4 (d) On or before the date that construction of a building
2-5 subject to this chapter is completed, the owner of the building
2-6 shall request in writing that the county conduct an initial
2-7 inspection of [inspect] the building for compliance with the fire
2-8 code.
2-9 (e) The county shall begin the initial inspection of the
2-10 building within two days after the date of the receipt of the
2-11 written inspection request. If an initial inspection is properly
2-12 requested and the county does not begin the inspection within the
2-13 time permitted by this subsection, the building that is the subject
2-14 of the request is considered approved for the purposes of this
2-15 chapter.
2-16 (f) A building inspector may enter a building at a
2-17 reasonable time and perform a subsequent inspection following an
2-18 interval prescribed by an order issued under this section.
2-19 (g) The county shall issue a [final] certificate of
2-20 compliance to the owner of a building inspected under this section
2-21 if the inspector determines, after an inspection of the completed
2-22 building, that the building complies with the fire code. The
2-23 certificate shall be valid until the next inspection conducted
2-24 under this section.
2-25 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-26 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.