(Seguin) — At least one local plumbing company is not ready to see the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners go down the drain. Starting Sept. 1, 2019, Texas lawmakers will abolish the regulatory protection and responsibilities of the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners no longer making it a requirement for plumbers to renew, apply or test for a license in the state of Texas.
In short, a person will no longer be required to have a license in order to work or operate a plumbing business in Texas. The state board is responsible for licensing plumbers and enforcing the state’s plumbing code.
As soon as news spread about the state’s decision, Katie Edwards, owner of M.E. Plumbing here in Seguin, publicly took a position against this latest move by law makers. Edwards says she remains in disbelief.
“Shock and disbelief because plumbing is such a vital component to our society. Modern plumbing has eradicated more diseases than vaccines because of controlling — having fresh water to your house and the removal of waste and it’s not just that but it is a career for the people in the plumbing field so it is the equivalent of someone — who went to a college and got a diploma — ripping that diploma up and throwing it in the trash,” said Edwards.
Although many are pushing that Texas Governor Greg Abbott call lawmakers back to Austin for a special legislative session, there doesn’t appear to be any sign of hope to remedy this issue. That’s according to a recent Twitter response by the Governor who stated that he had no plans to reconvene legislators until they are to meet back up for their regular legislative session in 2021.
Protest continues by many of Edwards’ plumbing colleagues across the state. She say they are not only in shock by this latest action to do away with the integrity of the plumbing trade but more importantly, can’t believe that lawmakers are willing to put the health of the state’s residents at risk.
“Plumbing is a vital part of society. It’s in your home. It’s in the business that you visit. It’s your children’s’ school. It’s in the hospitals and medical offices. If this abolishment does occur, which it is expected to occur, that will mean that when someone is constructing a house, the only trade that is unorganized is going to be the plumbing. So if anything fails in your house or anything is done incorrectly in your house that is plumbing, there will be no repercussions. The reasons for having a governing body is that there is a set of standards and there is knowledge and time in that trade in order to learn the proper way of doing things and so it will have repercussions on your house,” said Edwards.
Edwards says the dangers of now having the industry completed unregulated doesn’t stop at the construction of homes, hospitals, businesses and schools. She says it’s the everyday importance of quality plumbing that often goes unnoticed.
“Plumbers — some of the less glamourous things that people don’t realize is preventing water contamination so there’s these things called backflow devices and what it does, it prevents any sort of contamination going back into the general water system — the municipality waters and even in something as simple as a drinking fountain (also) like in a soda fountain. There’s a backflow device on that soda fountain to where the chemicals can not go back into the water system. If not, then there could legitlatmely be poisoning of someone every single time they go and get a soft drink. Anytime, you go to a hospital or a dentist and receive a procedure, all of that gas, that oxygen, the other gases are installed by plumbers. That also goes for the people that use propane or natural gas in their home. If you do not have the proper person, then there could be a disastrous event that occurs. This is just a big issue for society not just for the individual careers of these people,” said Edwards.
So what could have led to this change that can now have anyone calling themselves a plumber? While the Seguin Daily News’ request for comment from the state board were not returned, all indications show that the results might have been triggered by conflicting bills that kept legislators from coming up with an agreement.
The bills were apparently up for what is usually referred to as a “sunset review process.” That’s when an agency is “periodically reviewed” for its efficiency, organization and or whether they should continue to exist.
Nonetheless, Edwards says the plumbing industry, who at least knew of some changes, was clearly blindsided by this latest decision to totally do away with the state agency and the integrity that exist to do the job right.
“There was actually two pieces of legislation and both of them did not pass. The first one was to be a modification of the (Texas) State Board of Plumbing Examiners, the governing body over all of the plumbers in the state. The second one was to abolish the State Board of Plumbing Examiners and move the responsibility under the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation which holds I believe over 40 different types of regulatory things in Texas. They do cosmetology, dental hygienists, pharmacists, AC contractors, electrical. The Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners is the only one left in Texas. It’s an independent body. As an owner of a plumbing company, we had been anticipating a move under the (TDLR) and that’s what we were expecting kind of to happen if the state board of plumbing examiners was abolished but somehow, in these two bills that had come up, neither occurred. Therefore as of Sept. 1, 2019, there will be no more licensed or regulatory happenings with plumbing,” said Edwards.
Despite the fear and potential of allowing more unqualified workers to enter this particular workforce, Edwards says her company’s dedication to the plumbing industry will continue to remain strong.
“We will provide the same level of service that we always have. It will not be legal to say that we were licensed — that we have a current license in Texas because we do not. We can advertise that we were previously licensed in Texas. We will continue to hold the same insurance that we currently have which is a requirement of everyone that currently has a plumbing license in Texas, a company — a responsible master plumber in Texas to hold a certain amount of insurance and we will do our best to continue as possible. This does affect all of our employees that are working towards a license. For instance, we had an employee that was scheduled to hopefully take a test sometime in September and they will not be able to take a test. So, they will not receive their license and we don’t know what is going to happen with the future of people that were working to obtain their license at this time,” said Edwards.
Texas currently has approximately 58,000 license plumbers. Yet, that number especially after Hurricane Harvey is reported as being a shortage. According to officials, state organizations for plumbing, heating and cooling contractors have also been working around the clock to see if and how they can help during this transition.
Up to this point, Texas has been one of the lone rangers for having the most stringent requirements, policies and codes in place for its professional plumbers.