June 5,"I.948
Hon. C. E. Belk, Administrator
Board of Plumbing Examiners
Austin, Texas opinion No. V-599.
Re: Legality of a public
service company's pip-
ing a building for
natural gas without
a State plumbing li-
cerise.
Bear Mr.' B&k:
We quote fro21 your.recent ,request for anopln-.
ion in part as follows:
"Under Section 3, paragraph (c) of
Senate Bi11,~188, 50th LegislatuPe, ,(The
Plumbing License Law ,of 1947) a pubI.~c
service company is exempt froin the'license
requirement in the laying, maintenance and
operatio,n of'its ~service maSns"o~r lines
and the installation, aLteratidn, adjust-:
ment, 'repair; ~removal aha renovation of
all types of appurtenances, equipment and
appliances." The question has been 'raised
as to whether or not this gives'to these'
cofipanies the permissio~n to pipe houses
for natural gas. This ho~use piping .could
apply to neither new construction or re-
modeled constr~tion.~ (Parenthetical aa-
dition ours)
The exemptionto which you refer reads:
~"Sec. 3.~ The following acts, work
and c'onductshall be' expres.sly permitted
without license:
"(cl .'. .,plurnbing work~dohe by per-
sons engaged by'any 'public service.compang
in the'laying, aiaintenance ard op'cration
of its service mains or lines and the in-
stallation, alteration, adjustment, repair,
Hon. C. E. Belk, Page 2, V-599.
removal and renovation of all types of ap-
purtenances, equipment, and appliances;
. . .”
At the outset, we wouLd note that the exemp-
tion with which we are concerned refers only to *‘per-
sons engaged by any public service company.” This De-
-ment held in Opinion V-333 that only a natural per-
son may be issued any license authorized by the Plomb-
ing License Law of 1947. A license cannot be issued to
a fina or corporation as such. Therero re , what we have
to say hereafter with reference to the exemption about
which you have inquired will be pertinent to the em lo -
ees of public service companies, and not to the c&es
%ii&se~ves as such.
The exemption we are concerned with, being
that extended to public service company employees, ezn-
bodies two expressions of exempted work or conduct. The
first is “in the laying, maintenance and operation of its
service mains or lines”; the second refers to “the instal-
lation, alteration, adjustment,. repair, removal and reno-
vation of all types of appurtenances, .equipment and ap-
pliances .”
With respect to the laying, maintenance and
operation of service mains and. lines,~ s,uch an expression
of authority indicates’that the employees may do what-
ever is neoesssry to service the customers of the pub-
lic service company alld to facilitate~and~ accomodste the
distribution of the product that it has for sale in so
far as the employee confines his conduct to the service
mains and lines of the company, The authorization of-ex-
emptea work on service mains and lines does not extend
to ninina t.he constier’s house or-din&! for consumo-
tion of ihe gas, as there is no logical o$ practical con-
nection, that we can observe, of such activity with ser-
vicing the mains or lines of the company. It is hour view,
therefore, that any further service by the employees of
the public service company in piping the house or build-
ing for the consumer is .a departure from the authorized
exempted conduct. allowed to such employees.
The second expression: of authorized exempted
conduct, which refers to the installation, alteration,
adjustment , repair, removal and renovation oft appurten-
antes, equioment and appliances,is, for all practical
purposes, the same authorization as that granted in the
exemption to appliance dealers. We attach no~signifi-
cance to the fact that the sereral terms “appurtenances,
Hon. C. E. Belk, Page 3, V-599.
equipment.andappliances"are used. 'In our Letter Opin-
ion R-914, dated December 6, 1947, addressed to your of-
fice, we used the following language:
wThe grant of authority to install ap-
pliances carrieswith it the power to do all
that is necessaryto render the appliance us-
able or serviceablefor its intended purpose,
which will include a union with or extension
to the base piping installationon the prem-
ises in whatever position it may be found by
the appliance dealer or his employee, if nec-
essary to render the appliance serviceable.We
do not restrict appliance installationto-the
mere application of a *union joint' to the ap-
pliance, and the attachmentby'that mans to
a pipe outlet extendingfrom the.wall, although
in a given situation that may be all~that is
neoessary to install the appliance."
The authority "to do all:that is necessary to
render the appliance'usableor serviceable for its intend-
ed purposew does not grant authority to pipe the house or
builaing .
The exanption provided'foremployees
of public servioe companiesfrom the license
piwvision of The Plumbing"LicenseLaw of
4947, Acts 50th Leg.;S. ~B.188, ao'esnot
‘grant such'employeesauthority to pipe a
house .orbuilding without having a State
plumbing license.
Yours very truly,
LPPROVED: ATTOFNEYGENERALOF TFXAS
BY
.TTORQEYGENERAL.
WC:jmc