87th Session Recap - Construction and HVAC
H.B. 871 - Relating to the municipal fees charged to certain air conditioning and refrigeration contractors.
H.B. 871 was another bill strongly supported and advocated for by TMHA, along with the advocacy groups for heating and air conditioning industries. This new law prevents cities from charging registration fees (i.e. a “tax”) for state licensed air conditioning contractors. This bill survived and was passed over objections from cities, like the City of Houston who said this will cost the city $650,000 in 2022 and would have increased about $10,000 per year thereafter.
For our various heating and air conditional suppliers for manufactured and modular home, we expect this new law will decrease their costs to operate in various city markets in Texas; further helping to preserve home affordability.
This new law is effect September 1, 2021.
H.B. 636 - Relating to the continuation and functions of the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners.
Recall a bit of late 2019 session drama, and you will remember that the State Plumbing Board and agency was technically sunsetted. Meaning that the agency would cease to exist after September 1, 2019. However, Gov. Abbott used his executive authority to continue the agency and board until this session following and during various state declared disasters.
This bill officially revives plumbing regulation in Texas.
The new laws are currently effective.
H.B. 738 - Relating to the residential building codes of municipalities.
H.B. 738 updates all city building codes in Texas to at least the 2012 version of the IRC. While many cities are beyond the 2012 version and therefore unaffected by the new minimum floor code standards, some rural cities will have to update their site-built codes. This law change does not have any direct impact on manufactured housing or modular housing as those building codes are federally or statewide preemptive. It will have the positive ancillary benefit in some markets to help level the field by forcing site-built builders to build to a higher code if they were on a more dated version.
However, H.B. 738 does have a specific provision that is critical to all home construction, including both manufactured homes and modular homes. A late, Senate 3rd reading amendment places a prohibition on cities being able to require fire sprinklers for residential homes in the Local Government Code.
Recall that Texas has had a prohibition on cities being able to require fire sprinklers in typical residential housing since 2009. However, in a bit of legislative sausage making that prohibition was in the law governing the occupational licensing of plumbers, and that law still exist today. The amendment, and now law, doubles down on this prohibition, and in a more overt way that ensures cities and counties are clear on their authority limits when it comes to requiring fire sprinklers.
The bulk of this law, including the fire sprinkler prohibition, are effective on January 1, 2022.
H.B. 3215 - Relating to energy efficiency building standards.
H.B. 3215 allows a separate performance-based avenue to achieve energy efficiency in homes, which allows homeowners and builders to choose the features best for them based on cost and feature preferences. The law change will allow home builders to build more energy-efficient homes at more cost-effective prices, and encourage innovation in energy efficiency.
This bill was supported and advocated for by the Texas Association of Builders.
Advocates for the bill asserted that without a reasonable performance path, housing affordability and code compliance will suffer as future energy codes are updated with ever-increasing inflexibility and extraordinarily high stringency levels.
This change will not impact manufactured housing since there is federal code preemption, however we do anticipate there will be some impact on modular homes. We anticipate the TDLR Code Council could modify residential modular code provisions to align with the law changes brought on by H.B. 3215.
This new law is effective on September 1, 2021.
H.B. 2237 - Relating to mechanic's, contractor's, or materialman's liens.
Under Texas' current mechanic's, contractor's, and materialman's lien statutes advocates for this bill asserted that were confusing when securing lien rights. Under those statutes, certain notice requirements and deadlines can lead to confusion and some difficulties when securing liens and understanding lien rights.
H.B. 2237 sought to streamline the current Texas lien statutes, remove redundant provisions, address various ambiguities, and provide for specific statutory forms for notice.
This large omnibus bill touches on many aspects of the mechanic's, contractor's, and materialman's lien and is a product of multiple and prolonged industries working and negotiating over several legislative sessions. This final agreed to bill was supported by, among others, the Texas Construction Association, Texas Building Owners and Managers Association, Texas Land Title Association, Credit Union Coalition of Texas, Texas Bankers Association, Texas Mortgage Bankers Association, Texas Association of Builders, Lumbermens Association of Texas, and the Texas Realtors.
The law changes go into effect on January 1, 2022.