The Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) adopts on an emergency basis amendments to §535.212 concerning Education and Experience for an Inspector License. Previous amendments to §535.212 were adopted on an emergency basis at a TREC meeting on August 6, 2007 and published in the August 24, 2007, issue of the Texas Register (32 TexReg 5244). The emergency amendments amend §535.212 as adopted on August 6, 2007. The amendments are adopted on an emergency basis to comply with revisions to Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 1102, enacted by House Bill 1530, 80th Legislative Session, Regular Session. The effective date of HB 1530 is September 1, 2007.

Section 1102.111(a), Texas Occupations Code, as amended by HB 1530, provides that, as of September 1, 2007, an applicant for a real estate and professional home inspector license must have both additional education and experience in lieu of the experience requirements under the traditional three-tier application process for a license. Immediately prior to September 1, the education component was required but the experience component was not. This legislative change to strengthen the licensing standards for real estate and professional inspectors entering the profession under the alternate licensing track authorized TREC to specify by rule the extent of these requirements, subject to express statutory limitations. In order to provide for rules to be in place when the new law took effect, TREC adopted an emergency rule and set the education and experience requirements at their statutory caps.

The adoption of the emergency amendments permits TREC to comply with the effective date required by the bills. The adoption of the emergency amendments also takes into consideration the concerns raised by individuals affected by the new rules that require both education and experience in lieu of the experience required under the traditional three-tier application process for a real estate and professional home inspector license. TREC has received correspondence from persons who were in the process of taking the required education courses prior to September 1, 2007, and were not aware that Chapter 1102 had been changed to require both education and experience under the alternative licensing method.

The emergency amendments to §535.212 require both education and experience in lieu of the experience required under the traditional three-tier application process to reflect new requirements under §1102.111, Texas Occupations Code. The amendments require an applicant under the alternate application process for a professional inspector license to provide proof of completion of 200 additional hours of education and either proof of completion of 120 hours of an experience training module, 120 hours of experience working with a licensed professional inspector, or evidence of 5 years of experience in a field directly related to home inspecting.

Under the rule, there are three ways for applicants who are other than actively practicing licensed or registered architects, professional engineers, or engineer-in-trainings to gain required experience. The "education model" experience alternative will provide for experience to be obtained under conditions where the hands-on experience is systematic in its coverage under closely supervised field instruction by an approved education provider. The "inspection experience" alternative will assure that the aspiring licensee gets actual home inspecting experience with a licensed professional inspector for a stated period. Lastly, the experience alternative assures that the applicant has experience in a field directly related to home inspecting. The applicant will be able to choose which method of alternate experience is best suited to the applicant's background and training.

The emergency amendments to §535.212 require an applicant under the alternate application process for a real estate inspector license to provide proof of completion of 30 additional hours of education and proof of either completion of 60 hours of an experience training module, 60 hours of experience working with a licensed professional inspector, or evidence of 3 years of experience in a field directly related to home inspecting.

If the applicant is an actively practicing licensed or registered architect, professional engineer, or engineer-in-training, the applicant meets the professional inspector education and experience requirement by actively practicing for 3 years and meets the real estate inspector education and experience requirement by actively practicing for 1 year.

If the applicant was enrolled in an education program with a significant experience component prior to September 1, 2007, the applicant meets the experience requirement in §1102.111(a), Texas Occupations Code. Not more than two persons may accompany a licensed professional inspector on inspections to meet the alternate experience component described in the amendments to §535.212.

All applicants under the alternative education and experience licensing method would be required to take the threshold education courses for a license and pass the relevant licensing examination.

The emergency amendments are adopted under Texas Occupations Code, §1101.151, which authorizes the Texas Real Estate Commission to make and enforce all rules and regulations necessary for the performance of its duties and to establish standards of conduct and ethics for its licensees in keeping with the purpose and intent of the Act to insure compliance with the provisions of the Act.

The statutes affected by this emergency adoption are Texas Occupations Code, Chapters 1101 and 1102, and Senate Bill 914 and House Bill 1530, 80th Legislature, R.S. No other statute, code, or article is affected by the adopted amendments.