87R6945 RDS-D
 
  By: Dominguez H.B. No. 3518
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to an annual report by the Texas Division of Emergency
  Management regarding building trade services following disasters.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 418, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Section 418.059 to read as follows:
         Sec. 418.059.  REPORT ON BUILDING TRADE SERVICES FOLLOWING
  DISASTERS. (a) Not later than November 1 of each year, the division
  shall submit a report to members of the legislature on improving the
  oversight, accountability, and availability of building trade
  services following disasters. The report must include:
               (1)  the number and economic impact of tradespeople in
  communities affected by a disaster;
               (2)  strategies for using a workforce that has been
  trained in a United States Department of Labor Industry-Recognized
  Apprenticeship Program or Registered Apprenticeship Program to
  increase the availability of tradespeople, including plumbers and
  electricians, following a disaster;
               (3)  approaches to increase prosecutions of alleged
  fraud relating to building trade services offered following a
  disaster, including wage theft and worker misclassification; and
               (4)  methods to encourage performance bond
  requirements in contracts for building trade services to be
  performed following a disaster.
         (b)  The division shall consult with appropriate state
  entities, including the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and
  Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, local governments,
  trade associations, United States Department of Labor Registered
  Apprenticeship Programs, and law enforcement groups in preparing
  the report described by Subsection (a).
         (c)  The report described by Subsection (a) must include the
  methodology of the contents of the report, including the type and
  nature of information provided by the entities described by
  Subsection (b).
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.