HBA-ALS H.B. 2007 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2007
By: Reyna, Arthur
Licensing & Administrative Procedures
4/13/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law specifies the Uniform Mechanical Code and the Standard
Mechanical Code as the model codes to be used by air conditioning and
refrigeration contractors.  In order to achieve national uniformity, the
three major model code organizations, Building Officials and Code
Administrators, International Conference of Building Officials, and
Southern Building Code Congress International, Inc., have united with
municipal officials to develop and publish a single set of model codes,
which has resulted in the publication of the International Mechanical Code
and the International Fuel Gas Code.  H.B. 2007 adds the International
Mechanical and Fuel Gas Codes to the current list of model codes that may
be adopted by governmental jurisdictions.   

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority previously delegated to the Commissioner of Licensing and
Regulation is modified in SECTION 2 (Section 3, Article 8861, V.T.C.S. (Air
Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractor License Law)) of this bill.   

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Article 8861, Section 2(10), V.T.C.S. (Air Conditioning
and Refrigeration Contractor License Law) to redefine "mechanical
integrity."  
 
SECTION 2.  Amends Section 3(a), Article 8861, V.T.C.S., (Air Conditioning
and Refrigeration Contractor License Law), as follows: 
(a)  Requires the Commissioner of Licensing and Regulation to adopt rules
for the practice of air conditioning and refrigeration contracting which
must be at least as strict as the standards set forth in the Uniform
Mechanical Code published by the International Conference of Building
Officials or the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical
Officials, the Standard Mechanical Code published by the Southern Building
Code Congress International, Inc., or the International Mechanical Code
published by the International Code Council, rather than at least as strict
as the standards set forth in the Uniform Mechanical Code published by the
International Conference of Building Officials or the International
Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, or the Standard
Mechanical Code published by the Southern Building Code Congress
International, Inc., as those codes exist at the time the rules are
adopted. 

SECTION 3.Effective date: September 1, 1999. 

SECTION 4.Emergency clause.