Licensing Texas plumbers remains a touchy subject heading into the legislative session

By Best Plumbers On Apr 1, 2021

COPPERAS COVE, Texas (KWTX) – Who will license the state’s nearly 60,000 plumbers and ensure they are fully trained remains open to the legislature.

In the final session, the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners was supposed to be abolished by the Texas Sunset Commission, the agency responsible for making recommendations on how to improve state agencies.

“The serious, ongoing problems and reluctance of plumbing to make changes no longer meet state expectations or the growing demands of the industry,” the Sunset Commission wrote in its 2019 report.

The report cited “lagging exams with more than 1,400 people waiting for exams” and “poor customer service” as the main reasons for the agency’s abolition.

It was recommended that the sanitation ordinance be transferred to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

This was not because of disagreement among state legislatures, and no draft law was passed to expand the agency’s operations.

When the agency was due to be abolished, Governor Greg Abbott extended his life by executive order until 2021.

Now, at this meeting, the legislature must again decide what to do with the agency.

“The best scenario is that they bring it together,” said WB Maples, the president of Cove Plumbing, Inc. of Copperas Cove.

“If not, we may be transferred to another agency,” he said.

However, he said that licensing plumbers – whoever does it – is a “necessity”.

“Would you like a carpenter to work on your natural gas system? I wouldn’t, ”said Maples.

Industry leaders, plumbers, and other groups worked with Representative Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, to draft House Bill 636.

The bill is in line with the issues raised by the Sunset Commission in its previous session.

This would enable online testing so plumbers don’t have to travel to Austin – a key factor in license inventory.

It would also set up an online database or toll-free number for the public to search for disciplinary actions against plumbers, and plumbers applying for licenses must submit their fingerprints for background verification.

Leonard Aguilar, the political director of the Southwest Pipe Trades Association, told KWTX that supporters of the law are still looking for a sponsor in the Texas Senate.

He said he continues to hope the law will pass this session, but acknowledged lawmakers will have their hands full working on many other policy priorities, especially amid the pandemic.

If the bill doesn’t pass, Chap Thornton, executive director of Plumbers & Pipefitters Local Union 286, suspects cities will take the licensing into their own hands.

“Your major cities will take over the plumbing supervisory authority,” Thornton said.