HBA-ALS C.S.H.B. 2475 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2475 By: Wise Licensing & Administrative Procedures 4/30/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Current law requires that a licensed plumber connect water or sewer service in small towns with a population over 5,000, except for connections to homesteads. However, many colonia home purchasers are unable to qualify for homestead status, and therefore, must hire a professional plumbers, rather than being able to utilize self-help labor. C.S.H.B. 2475 permits an organization, certified by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, that provides "self-help" project assistance in an area in a county any part of which is within 50 miles of the international border and that gives the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (board) a specified project location, the intended duration of the project, and other information the board may require before the 30th day before the project begins, to perform plumbing work without a license if the work is limited to the provision of a residential potable water supply or residential sanitary sewer connections. Under this bill, any failure by the organization that provides "self-help" project assistance in those border areas to meet the above requirements invalidates the exception to perform plumbing work without a license and subjects any unlicensed individual or entity that performs the plumbing work to all penalties available against an individual or entity that performs plumbing work without a license. 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. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 3, Article 6243-101, V. T. C. S. (The Plumbing License Law), as follows: Sec. 3. ACTS PERMITTED WITHOUT A LICENSE. (a) Created from existing text. Redesignates existing Subsections (a)-(e) to Subdivisions (1)-(5) and makes a conforming change to Subdivision (4) by updating statutory references. Adds Subdivision (6) to permit an organization, certified by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, that provides "self-help" project assistance in an area in a county any part of which is within 50 miles of the international border and that gives the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (board) a specified project location, the intended duration of the project, and other information the board may require before the 30th day before the project begins, to perform plumbing work without a license if the work is limited to the provision of a residential potable water supply or residential sanitary sewer connections. (b) Adds this subsection to provide that any failure by the organization that provides "selfhelp" project assistance in those border areas to meet the requirements of Section 3(a)(6) invalidates the exception to perform plumbing work without a license and subjects any unlicensed individual or entity that performs the plumbing work to all penalties available against an individual or entity that performs plumbing work without a license. (c) Adds this subsection to authorize the board to provide training to an organization that provides "self-help" project assistance. SECTION 2.Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 3.Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 2475 differs from the original bill in SECTION 1, as follows: The substitute redesignates existing Section 3, Article 6243-101, to proposed Section 3(a) and creates Sections 3(b) and (c). Accordingly, the substitute redesignates existing Subsections (a)-(e) of Section 3 to Subdivisions (1)-(5) of proposed Section 3(a). Because of these redesignations, the substitute negates the redesignations made by the original when it proposed to create a new Subsection (c) for existing Section 3. As for proposed Subsection (c) of Section 3, the substitute redesignates it as Subdivision (6) of proposed Section 3(a) and amends it substantially. Under the original, proposed Subsection (c) would have included plumbing work done by an organization providing "Self Help" work through a STEP program, certified by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC), in an area of a county within 150 miles of the international border, the majority population of which is designated as having low income or very low income according to the federal Office of Management and Budget poverty index and qualifies as an economically distressed area under Section 17.921, Water Code (Definitions), or that has the physical and economic characteristics of a colonia among the type of work permitted without a plumbing license. Under the substitute, plumbing work done by an organization, certified by TNRCC, that provides "self-help" project assistance in an area in a county any part of which is within 50 miles of the international border must be limited to the provision of a residential potable water supply or residential sanitary sewer connections to be performed without a license. In addition, the substitute provides that, in addition to being certified by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, the organization that provides "self-help" project assistance must give the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners (board) a specified project location, the intended duration of the project, and other information the board may require before the 30th day before the project begins to be permitted to do plumbing work without a license. As previously mentioned the substitute creates Sections 3(b) and (c). Proposed Section 3(b) provides that any failure by the organization that provides "self-help" project assistance in those border areas to meet the requirements of proposed Section 3(a)(6) invalidates the exception to do plumbing work without a license and subjects any unlicensed individual or entity that performs the plumbing work to all penalties available against an individual or entity that performs plumbing work without a license. Proposed Section 3(c) authorizes the board to provide training to an organization that provides "self-help" project assistance. The substitute also makes conforming changes in proposed Section 3(a)(4) by updating statutory references.