SB2143

A county may commission a fire marshal, fire officer, fire inspector or fire investigator. A person commissioned under the new section may administer Local Government Code Chapter 352, support fire-related operations or investigations, enforce building-related codes including hazardous-materials codes, and make building-safety recommendations. The final law contains no population minimum for this authority. Final law, section 1.

This operates alongside the existing county fire-marshal framework, rather than creating every fire-marshal function from scratch. The separate requirement for legal authorization to establish a law-enforcement agency is not a blanket permission to create any agency a county wants. The act does not repeal existing licensing law or existing limits on a county fire marshal’s enforcement inside municipalities. Final law, sections 1–2; Existing county fire-marshal office; Existing duties and municipal limits; Existing license requirement and exceptions.

Committee change that did not become law: The Senate substitute added certification requirements for fire marshals in counties with at least 100,000 people, including specified fire certifications within 12 months, a permanent peace-officer license when acting in that role, and fire-inspection certifications for specified work. It also included a transition rule for already-appointed marshals. The House amendment removed those additions. They must not be described as new requirements imposed by SB2143. Introduced; Senate substitute; House committee text before amendment; Final law.

One adopted floor amendment: Ray Lopez’s House Amendment 1, adopted May 19, struck the certification provisions and transition rule, and also removed the proposed restriction on enforcing the Transportation Code’s rules of the road, which had exceptions for Chapter 352 enforcement and specified arrest authority. Those deletions are confirmed in the enrolled text; the Senate concurred May 22. Removing that proposed restriction is not proof that every traffic stop by every fire officer is lawful. The final act must be read with other applicable law. Full amendment; Amendment and disposition index; Senate-passed version; Final law; All versions.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Counties gain express commissioning authority for the listed personnel; building owners and occupants may encounter those commissioned officers in fire or building-code work. Possible safety and staffing benefits depend on county choices and implementation. The act does not itself hire officers, guarantee improved safety or appropriate money. Final law.

The May 20 fiscal note for the House-passed bill anticipates no significant state or local fiscal impact and assumes implementation costs can be absorbed within existing resources. That is not a guarantee that every county will spend nothing. The introduced March 28 note anticipated no state fiscal impact; the March 31 substitute note used the no-significant-impact/existing-resources wording. The final text—not the fiscal note’s older caption—shows that the proposed certification requirements were removed. Final-stage fiscal note; Introduced fiscal note; Substitute fiscal note.