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 piping a building for natural gas without a State plumbing licerise. 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~rlines 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~usepiping .could apply to neither new construction or remodeled constr~tion.~ (Parenthetical aadition 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 persons engaged by'any 'public service.compang in the'laying, aiaintenance ard op'cration of its service mains or lines and the installation, alteration, adjustment, repair,Hon. C. E. Belk, Page 2, V-599.

removal and renovation of all types of appurtenances, equipment, and appliances;

. . .” At the outset, we wouLd note that the exemption with which we are concerned refers only to *‘persons engaged by any public service company.” This De- -ment held in Opinion V-333 that only a natural person may be issued any license authorized by the Plombing 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, %ii&se~ves as such. and not to the c&es

The exemption we are concerned with, being that extended to public service company employees, eznbodies 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 installation, alteration, adjustment,. repair, removal and renovation of all types of appurtenances, .equipment and appliances

.”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 whatever is neoesssry to service the customers of the public 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-exemptea work on service mains and lines does not extend to ninina t.he constier’s house or-din&! for consumotion of ihe gas, as there is no logical o$ practical connection, that we can observe, of such activity with servicing 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 building 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 appurtenantes, equioment and appliances,is, for all practical purposes, the same authorization as that granted in the exemption to appliance dealers. We attach no~significance to the fact that the sereral terms “appurtenances,

### Hon. C. E. Belk, Page 3, V-599.

equipment.and

appliances"

are used. 'Inour Letter Opinion R-914, datedDecember 6, 1947,addressedto your office,we 

### used the followinglanguage:

wThe grant of authorityto installappliancescarrieswith it the power to do all that is necessaryto renderthe applianceusable or serviceablefor its intendedpurpose, which will includea unionwith or extension to the base piping installation on the premises in whateverpositionit may be foundby the appliancedealer or his employee,if necessary to renderthe applianceserviceable. We do not restrictapplianceinstallationto-the mere applicationof a *union joint' to the appliance,and the attachment by'thatmans to a pipe outlet extendingfrom the.wall,although in a given situationthatmay be all~thatis neoessaryto installthe appliance." The authority"to do all:that is necessaryto render the appliance'usable or serviceablefor its intended purposewdoes not grant authorityto pipe the house or builaing

.



### The exanptionprovided'for employees of public servioe companiesfrom the license piwvisionof The Plumbing"License Law of 4947, Acts 50thLeg.;S. ~B.188, ao'es not ‘grantsuch'employees authorityto pipe a house .or

buildingwithouthaving a State plumbinglicense.
Yours very truly,
LPPROVED: ATTOFNEYGENERALOF TFXAS

BY 

### .TTORQEY

GENERAL. WC:jmc