Sec. 754.014.  STANDARDS ADOPTED BY COMMISSION.  (a)  The commission by rule shall adopt standards for the installation, maintenance, alteration, operation, testing, removal from service, and inspection of equipment used by the public in:
(1)  buildings owned or operated by the state, a state-owned institution or agency, or a political subdivision of the state; and
(2)  buildings that contain equipment that is open to the general public, including a hotel, motel, apartment house, boardinghouse, church, office building, shopping center, or other commercial establishment.
(b)  Standards adopted under commission rules may not contain requirements in addition to the requirements in the ASME Code A17.1, ASME Code A17.3, ASME Code A18.1, or ASCE Code 21.  The standards must allow alteration of existing equipment if the alteration does not diminish the safety of the equipment below the level required by this chapter at the time of alteration.
(c)  Standards adopted under commission rules must require equipment to comply with the installation requirements of the ASME Code A17.1, ASME Code A18.1, or ASCE Code 21 that was in effect and applicable on the date of installation of the equipment.
(d)  Standards adopted under commission rules must require equipment to comply with the installation requirements of the ASME Code A17.3 that contains minimum safety standards for all equipment, regardless of the date of installation.
(e)  The executive director may grant a delay for compliance with the codes and adopted standards until a specified time if the executive director determines that the noncompliance does not constitute a significant threat to passenger or worker safety.  The accumulated total time of all delays for a specific noncompliant condition may not exceed three years, except as determined by the executive director.
(g)  The executive director may grant a waiver of compliance from an applicable code requirement if the executive director finds that:
(1)  the building in which the equipment is located is a qualified historic building or facility or the noncompliance is due to structural components of the building;
(2)  noncompliance will not constitute a significant threat to passenger safety;  and
(3)  noncompliance, with adequate alternative safeguards, will not constitute a significant threat to worker safety.
(h)  The executive director shall grant a waiver of compliance if the noncompliance resulted from compliance with a municipal equipment construction code at the time of the original installation and the noncompliance does not pose imminent and significant danger.
(h-1)  The executive director may grant a waiver of compliance with the firefighter's service provisions of the ASME Code A17.1 or the ASME Code A17.3 in an elevator that exclusively serves a vehicle parking garage in a building that:
(1)  is used only for parking;
(2)  is constructed of noncombustible materials; and
(3)  is not greater than 75 feet in height.
(i)  Repealed by Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 558, Sec. 23(3), eff. September 1, 2013.
(j)  One application for a waiver or delay may contain all requests related to a unit of equipment. 
(k)  For purposes of determining the applicable standards and codes under this chapter, the date of installation or alteration of equipment is the date that the owner of the real property entered into a contract for the installation or alteration of the equipment.  If that date cannot be established, the date of installation or alteration is the date of issuance of the municipal building permit under which the equipment was installed or altered or, if a municipal building permit was not issued, the date that electrical consumption began for the construction of the building in which the equipment was installed.
(l)  Standards adopted under commission rules may include and be guided by revised versions of ASME Code A17.1, ASME Code A18.1, and ASCE Code 21, as appropriate.
(m)  The executive director may on application of a person and in accordance with procedures adopted under commission rules, grant a variance to allow the installation of new technology if the new component, system, subsystem, function, or device is equivalent or superior to the standards adopted under commission rules.
Added by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 65, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1993.  Amended by Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 865, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995;  Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 974, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1995;  Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 816, Sec. 9.001, eff. Sept. 1, 2003;  Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 935, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003;  Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1268, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
Amended by: 
Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 574 (S.B. 1729), Sec. 2, eff. June 16, 2007.
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch. 1181 (H.B. 3628), Sec. 1, eff. June 19, 2009.
Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 558 (S.B. 673), Sec. 6, eff. September 1, 2013.
Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 558 (S.B. 673), Sec. 23(3), eff. September 1, 2013.
Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 423 (H.B. 3741), Sec. 1, eff. June 10, 2015.