By: King of Uvalde (Senate Sponsor - Estes) H.B. No. 1586
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 2017;
May 5, 2017, read first time and referred to Committee on Business &
Commerce; May 11, 2017, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 11, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the services that require a structural pest control
license; changing the applicability of an occupational license.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1951.003, Occupations Code, is amended
to read as follows:
Sec. 1951.003. BUSINESS OF STRUCTURAL PEST CONTROL. (a)
Subsection (b) applies to [In this chapter, a person is engaged in
the "business of structural pest control" if the person performs,
offers to perform, or advertises for or solicits the person's
performance of any of] the following services [for compensation,
including services performed as a part of the person's employment]:
(1) identifying infestations or making inspections
for the purpose of identifying or attempting to identify
infestations of:
(A) arthropods, including insects, spiders,
mites, ticks, and related pests, wood-infesting organisms,
rodents, weeds, nuisance birds, and any other obnoxious or
undesirable animals that may infest households, railroad cars,
ships, docks, trucks, airplanes, or other structures or their
contents; or
(B) pests or diseases of trees, shrubs, or other
plantings in a park or adjacent to a residence, business
establishment, industrial plant, institutional building, or
street;
(2) making oral or written inspection reports,
recommendations, estimates, or bids with respect to an infestation
described by Subdivision (1); or
(3) making contracts, or submitting bids [based on an
inspection] for services or performing services designed to
prevent, control, or eliminate an infestation described by
Subdivision (1) by the use of insecticides, pesticides,
rodenticides, fumigants, allied chemicals or substances, or
mechanical devices.
(b) A person is engaged in the "business of structural pest
control" and required to hold a license under this chapter if the
person:
(1) advertises or solicits to perform any service
described by Subsection (a); or
(2) performs or offers to perform for compensation any
service described by Subsection (a), including a service performed
as part of the person's employment.
(c) A person is not engaged in the business of structural
pest control if the person is a clerical employee or a manual
laborer and the person does not:
(1) identify pests;
(2) make inspections, recommendations, estimates,
bids, or contracts;
(3) provide estimates, bids, or contracts based on an
inspection; [or]
(4) apply insecticides, pesticides, rodenticides,
fumigants, allied chemicals, or other related substances regulated
by the department; or
(5) advertise or solicit to perform any service
described by Subsection (a).
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
conduct that occurs on or after the effective date of this Act.
Conduct that occurs before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect when the conduct occurs, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
* * * * *