BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 3918

By: Darby

Public Education

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Current law requires all school facilities operating on a liquefied petroleum gas system to be pressure tested in accordance with the National Fire Protection Association 54 every two years and to send the results to the Railroad Commission of Texas.  The current test requires the school piping to be pressure tested to ensure the piping can withstand the normal operating pressure. 

H.B. 3918 requires that a leakage test be conducted at school facilities instead of a pressure test.  This bill removes the requirement that the commission receive and maintain copies of the leakage test and requires the liquefied petroleum gas supplier to ensure that the school has conducted the testing as required prior to filling the tank.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 3918 amends the Natural Resources Code to require each school district to perform leakage tests, rather than pressure tests, for leakage on the LP-gas piping system in each district facility at least biennially. The bill requires a school district to perform the leakage test to determine whether the LP-gas piping system holds at least the amount of pressure specified by the Railroad Commission of Texas, rather than the amount specified by the National Fire Protection Association 54, National Fuel Gas Code, and requires that the test be conducted in accordance with commission rules, rather than in accordance with National Fire Protection Association 54.

H.B. 3918 removes the requirement for a school district to provide written notice to the commission specifying the date and result of each test or other inspection, and instead requires a school district to retain documentation specifying the date and result of each test until at least the fifth anniversary of the date the test or other inspection was performed. The bill removes a requirement for the commission to retain a copy of the notice provided by a school district until at least the first anniversary of the commission's receipt and instead authorizes the commission to review a district's documentation of each leakage test or other inspection conducted by the district.

H.B. 3918 makes its provisions applicable beginning with the 2009-2010 school year.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the act does not receive the necessary vote, the act takes effect September 1, 2009.