HBA-JLV H.B. 2813 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2813 By: Wolens State Affairs 7/17/2001 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Texas Legislative Council is required by law (Section 323.007, Government Code) to carry out a complete nonsubstantive revision of the Texas statutes. The process involves reclassifying and rearranging the statutes in a more logical order, employing a numbering system and format that will accommodate future expansion of the law, eliminating repealed, invalid, duplicative, and other ineffective provisions, and improving the draftsmanship of the law, if practicable--all toward promoting the stated purpose of making the statutes "more accessible, understandable, and usable" without altering the sense, meaning, or effect of the law. In 1965 the council adopted a long-range plan of compiling the law into 26 codes arranged by general topics. Although some reorganization has occurred since the original proposal, the number of projected codes remains at 26. During the 76th legislative session, the legislature enacted the Occupations Code, which was a nonsubstantive codification of the Texas statutes applicable to the licensing and regulation of health professions and certain other professions and business practices. The bill amends the Occupations Code to codify statutes relating to engineering, architecture, land surveying, real property and housing, environmental and industrial trades, motor vehicles and transportation, and other occupations. The bill also codifies the statutes that govern the various state agencies and other entities that regulate the specific professions and occupations covered by the bill. The bill comprises the remainder of the Occupations Code. Specifically, the bill amends the Occupations Code by adding the following titles: Title 6, Regulation of Engineering, Architecture, Land Surveying, and Related Practices; Title 7, Practices and Professions Related to Real Property and Housing; Title 8, Regulation of Environmental and Industrial Trades; Title 12, Practices and Trades Related to Water, Health, and Safety; Title 14, Regulation of Motor Vehicles and Transportation; and Title 15, Occupations Related to Employment. Each of the titles is divided into subtitles, chapters, subchapters, and sections. Sections are numbered decimally, and the number to the left of the decimal point is the same as the chapter number. Gaps in chapter and section numbering are for future expansion. The council legal staff has taken meticulous care to ensure that no substantive change has been made in the law and to preserve any ambiguity or interpretation that may exist in current law. The staff has developed an extensive mailing list, and drafts of the proposed titles have been widely distributed for review and comment to interested individuals, organizations, businesses, industry representatives, and governmental agencies. The staff has studied the comments and suggestions of persons reviewing the titles and has taken action to satisfy any concerns expressed. The amendment of the Occupations Code is a nonsubstantive revision of Texas law. The substance of the law has not been altered. The sole purpose of the proposed amendment is to compile the relevant law, arrange it in a logical fashion, and rewrite it without altering its meaning or legal effect. If a particular source statute is ambiguous and the ambiguity cannot be resolved without a potential substantive effect, the ambiguity is preserved. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 2813 creates Titles 6, 7, 8, 12, 14, and 15, Occupations Code, a nonsubstantive revision of statutes relating to the regulation of engineering, architecture, land surveying, and related practices, practices and professions related to real property and housing, regulation of environmental and industrial trades, practices and trades related to water, health, and safety, regulation of motor vehicles and transportation, and occupations related to employment. The bill also includes conforming amendments to Chapter 23, Natural Resources Code, and Chapters 501 and 503, Transportation Code, necessary to continue without substantive change provisions of law not codified as part of Titles 6, 7, 8, 12, 14, and 15, Occupations Code, and to ensure that other substantive changes are not made. In addition, the bill repeals the laws that are revised in the bill as well as laws that have expired or that have been impliedly repealed. Finally, the bill includes a statement of the legislative intent to recodify only. EFFECTIVE DATE The bill is effective June 1, 2003, in order to provide affected parties a complete legislative cycle to review more closely what the legislature has enacted.