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~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 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. 'In our Letter Opinion R-914, dated December 6, 1947, addressed to your office, we used the following language: 

wThe grant of authority to install appliances carries with it the power to do all 

that is necessary to render the appliance usable or serviceable for its intended purpose, 

which will include a union with or extension 

to the base piping installation on the premises in whatever position it may be found by 

the appliance dealer or his employee, if necessary to render the appliance serviceable. We 

do not restrict appliance installation to-the 

mere application of a *union joint' to the appliance, and the attachment by'that mans to 

a pipe outlet extending from 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'usable or serviceable for its intended purposew does not grant authority to pipe the house or 

builaing . 

The exanption provided'for employees 

of public servioe companies from the license 

piwvision of The Plumbing"License Law of 

4947, Acts 50th Leg.;S. ~B. 188, ao'es not 

‘grant such'employees authority to pipe a 

house .or building without having a State 

plumbing license. 

Yours very truly, 

LPPROVED: ATTOFNEYGENERALOF TFXAS 

BY 

.TTORQEY GENERAL. 

WC:jmc