The Inspector Committee met in Austin on January 22nd to discuss a packed agenda. Several inspectors made the trip to Austin for this meeting.  I would like to thank everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to attend and I appreciate your important input.  Inspector attendance at these meetings is invaluable because it provides the Committee the opportunity to hear the ideas and concerns of inspectors from all over the state.  The Committee is meeting again on Monday, February 26^th at 10am. Not only will the Committee elect its new officers at that meeting, but also any inspector who attends can receive up to 2 hours of Continuing Education. The SOP Subcommittee will meet at 9AM on that same day prior to the meeting of the full Committee.

The meeting on January 22nd was a busy one. The Committee reviewed the proposed changes to the financial responsibility and insurance rules. The Committee has recommended to the Commission that it take no action at its February meeting on the proposed amendments. This means that if the Commission agrees to take no action, the current insurance requirements will not change. Additionally, the Committee is asking the Commission to remand the issue back to the Committee so that it can properly evaluate all of the issues surrounding the current financial responsibility and insurance requirements and propose a possible legislative change as part of the Sunset process. 

The Committee also discussed confusion surrounding the inspector’s relationship to the client, including if and when and inspector is authorized to share data gathered during an inspection. While the current rules do weigh in on what the inspector’s duties are to the client, the current rules do not define who the inspector’s client is. The Committee believes clarifying this would befit both inspector and consumer and has asked staff to bring forward a proposed definition to the next Committee meeting.

I want to reiterate what the executive director said in his message last month, the new year will give all of you several opportunities to engage in the policy-making process of the agency. The agency is in the midst of its quadrennial rule review to determine if rules should be continued, amended, or repealed.  The inspector rules will be open for review in August of this year.  TREC will also be traveling the state in March for its statewide strategic planning listening tour where the executive director will gathering input from license holders and other agency stakeholders, as well as updating and discussing future agency initiatives. The listening tour schedule will be published this month so please check the website for the dates and times for your area. Lastly, TREC is going through the Sunset Review process this Spring.  Your input is essential to this process as well. Additional information about Sunset can be found on the TREC website.

 As always, thank you for the valuable input and support and I look forward to seeing you at a future meeting.