BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 2095

By: Kuempel

Licensing & Administrative Procedures

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties contend that the continuous number of years for which a license holder under the Plumbing License Law must hold the license in order for the licensee's license number to transfer on the date of the person's retirement or death to another licensee is too restrictive.    H.B. 2095 seeks to address this issue by reducing the minimum number of continuous years such a person must hold the license for transfer eligibility and specifies that only the designation of the number is transferrable.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

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. 2095 amends the Occupations Code to reduce from 50 to 35 the minimum number of consecutive years that a person must continuously hold an unexpired license under the Plumbing License Law to trigger the authorization for such a person to transfer the license number on the date of the person's retirement or death to another person subject to certain conditions and specifies that statutory provisions relating to such a transfer apply to the transfer of a license number. The bill replaces the requirement that the person to whom a license number is transferred hold a license as a journeyman plumber or master plumber with the requirement that the person hold a plumbing license issued under the Plumbing License Law that is the same type of license as the license held by the transferor. The bill requires the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners to adopt rules necessary to implement the bill's provisions and requires the board, not later than January 1, 2018, to begin accepting applications for the transfer of license numbers.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2017.