""""""""
Ar'rORFiEy GENER&L
OF TEXAS
3tFvaaL.a
PRICE DANIEL
ATTORNEYGENERAL
Ron. C*l&ily McKay
DlstrlctAttorney
S&vgh$~,'"lal Bl8trLct
,
opln+xIlo. v-549
der hle sdpem#siOn without
a St@te ?&taalp%ng
lipem?,
ana a relate4questi&
DearSlr:
Referenceis made to your requestfor an opinion
en the above captioned subject, from which we Quote In
part as follows:
"I would'lIke an opinion from your de-
artment InterpretingSection 3, subdlvlslon
a), of the PlumbingLicense law of 1947,
'E
Art. 6243-101,Vernon's Annotated Civil Sta-
t&Y%.
z
"That portion of the act ln question
reads as follows:
"'Sec.3. The followingact, work and
conduct,shallbe expressly permlttedwlth-
out license:
"(8)' Plumbing Work done by a property
owner In a building owned ana occupied by
him as his home;'
Wueatlon: May a person do plumbing
work-in a bulldIx& owned or occupied by
him as his home by or through employees or
assistantswho are under his supervisionand
..
Bene CWmalls McKay- Page 2.- V-549
cantrol, or must ruoh'workbe done by such
person ptrsoually? Also; does tbulldlng
owned or occupied by him as his hornetpre-
hlblt ,plumblngwork on a building under
constructionto be occupied by such person
as his home?"
The Plumbing License Law of 1947, Act8 Zg47, Ch,Xl5,
P. 192, makes no mention a& tiewhether a property owner could
use employees or assistantsto do plumbing work6~ his em
home. It ~121 be necessary to read the whole Act and awwer
the question l.nthe light of the leglalatlveintent
aF, 3%~. TV, Texas Underwriters,etal, 129 S. w, t2#$
V. Aplp,,err. r&f.)
was to regulate plumb-
The intent of.the~Zeglalature
- ~l~~ta&r6&e or business. Thsre are no words l,nthe Act
th t the Legis&ture Intended to regulate the de-
ing of a plumZing act. PM&?? to the parsage ef tW Act now
kilnquestion, the ti~&lattirein Articles 1078,1079,1080,
and 1081, VI C. Se, had authorizedthe cities of Texas to
regulate the plumbitigtrade or businesd. Article 1078au-
thor.lzRaa City Board of Plumbing Qzmlnersj Article 1079
aMd the plumbers by examinationand 1lCense; Article
%F oUtlin+d the method of~lssulnglloensesjand Article :
1081 stated that a'lioense would net insue until the appll-
cant had appeared before the city board and saocessfulX~
passed the examination. These statutes,all of nhioh were
repealed by the Act of 1947, ere powers granted te the
cities te regulate the bu8ih0s8 of plumbing by exam&iatlon
and lic+nae. By the repeal,OS the tlznmemtedttatutes and
the passage of~the Act, the tiglslaturelnt~ded to reveke
the peweref regulationgiven ta the cities and to place
'tm wgulatlon of the plumbing busihess under a State
Beard of Plumbing Eiam%ers, See Sec. 5 of the Act.
In Article 10 6 V..C. S,, the Geglslatureauthorl-
red the passage of ordk me8 regulatingthe varleus.actaof
Pl=b** This statute was not repealed by the Act o-7,
and cities are passing ordinancesfor the regulatlop'of' the
various aots of plumbing. The.Aot of 1947 takelin6tlce'that
cities will continue to ererolse this power SW plumb*, .~
yo ;t,o the plumbing trade, butas to the doing of plUmb-
See Sec. 15 of th&Aot.' It was the latentof the
Legislat&e by the Act to leave -citieswith the power to regu-
late the acts of plumbing, and to take away the olties~.Power
to regulate.theplumbing oocupatlon,and to place that power
in the State Board of Plumbing Examiner&
- -
Eon. Connally McKay~- Page 3 -V-549
The Act, at Sec. 14, states thst *. . . no person,
whether a master plumber, employingplumber, journeyman
plumber, or otherwise, shall engage In, work at, or con-
duct the buslness of plumbing . . exriept as herein specl-
flcallg exempted from the provfslo&iof this Act. unless
such person %s the holder of a valid license . .-. and it
shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to
engage In or.work at the business of Installingplumbing
and doing plumbing work except as specificallyherelnpro-
vlded unless such lnstallatlonof plumbing or plumbing work
be under the and control of a plumber licensed
under this Emphasis added). This prohibition and
penalty clause app agalns~tone who attempts to engage
in or work at the business of plumbing,
"
The question presented Is whether the proper-
owkertsuse of employees and assistantsin dolng.plumblng
work on a bulldq owned or occupied by him as his home
would constitute engaging ln or working at the business
of plumblng' so as to be wlthln the terms pf the Ac.t.
In 53 Corpus Jurls Secuudum 556,it is said:
"In the ~absenoeof a~statute~speclflcally
. so provldlng, the performanceof a single act,
or even a nurnherof isolated acts, pertaining
to a particularbusiness or occupationdoes not
constitute engaglngln, or carrying on, such bu-
Slness or.occupatlonwithin the meaning of a.
law lm~osinn a license or tax thereon~unlessan
tent te engage ln the business is Qearly ap-.
(Emph?slsadded-
In the case of Johnson v. State of Texss, 136 S. W. (2)
837,the Court of Criminal A 1 d fl d the word '!occupa-
tion" to mean a vocation, tr%y zr &sTzess 3.nwhich one prin-
clpally engages to make a living or obtain wealth.
In answer to your first question,we are of the opinion
t&t the Act does not prohibit an unlicensed person from doing
plumWng work ln a bulldlng owned or occupied by hlm as his
heme through employees or assls&ants under his aupervlaionand
control,so long as none of the employees or assistants are
engaged ln or wcrklng at plumbing as a business.
In answer to your second question,we are of the opti-
ion that the Act does not prohibit plumbing work by the PrOPOrtY
owner on a building under construction&a be occupied by such
Eon. ConnallyMcKaJT- Page 4 - V-549
person as his home. To hold otherwisewould Zmply
the stage of constructionto be material in a ques-
tion of whether or not an unlicensedperson is en-
gaging in or working at plumbing as a trade or busl-
Peas. .Wethink this has no bearing on the determlna-
tlon of the applicabilityof this Act.
The Plumblng License Law of
1947 does not prohibit an unllcenaed
person from doing plumbing work in or
on a building owned~or occupied by him ~'
as his home by or through employeesor
assistantsunder hls supervlslonor
control, so long as none of the employee8
and assistantsare engaged in or woru
at plumbing as a business.
Yours very truly
ATTORERYGRNJXRALOFTRXAS
JEW:bt
L:
APPROVRD:.