1. (a) Effective March 1, 2001, individuals shall comply with the training and continuing education requirements in this chapter.

2. (b) Applicants for new licenses or new certificates, as set forth in §9.7 and §9.8 of this title (relating to Application for License and License Renewal Requirements, and Application for a New Certificate, respectively) and persons holding existing licenses or certificates shall comply with the training or continuing education requirements in this chapter.

   1. (1) The training requirements apply only to applicants for Category E or I management-level certificates and certain employee-level certificates.

   2. (2) The continuing education requirements apply to:

      1. (A) all management-level certificate holders and employee-level certificate holders as specified in Table 1 of §9.52 of this title (relating to Training and Continuing Education Courses); and
      2. (B) any ultimate consumer who has purchased, leased, or obtained other rights in any LP-gas bobtail, including any employee of such ultimate consumer if that employee drives or in any way operates the equipment on an LP-gas bobtail.

   3. (3) The training and continuing education requirements do not apply to:

      1. (A) an ultimate consumer driving or fueling a motor vehicle powered by LP-gas;
      2. (B) an individual who fuels motor vehicles as an employee of an ultimate consumer;
      3. (C) an employee of a state agency, county, municipality, school district, or other governmental subdivision;
      4. (D) an individual with a general installers and repairman exemption; or
      5. (E) anyone certified only as a transport driver.
   4. (4) Any employee of an ultimate consumer or a state agency, county, municipality, school district, or other governmental subdivision who is not required to complete the training or continuing education shall be properly supervised and trained by the employer in the maintenance and storage of LP-gas and vehicles fueled by LP-gas, and in the operation of equipment during the filling and dispensing of LP-gas.
3. (c) Individual credit. Successful completion of any required training or continuing education shall be credited to and accrue to the individual.
4. (d) No partial credit. Individuals attending courses shall receive credit only if they attend the entire course and complete any required AFT. The Commission shall not award partial credit for partial attendance.
5. (e) Schedules. Dates and locations of all Commission LP-gas training and continuing education courses/seminars shall be available in the Austin offices of the Gas Services Division and AFRED, at certain Commission district offices, and on the Commission's web site at www.rrc.state.tx.us and shall be updated February 1 and June 1 of each year. Commission courses shall be conducted in Austin and in other locations around the state. Individuals or companies may request in writing that Commission courses be taught in their area. The Commission shall schedule its courses and locations at its discretion.

6. (f) Registering for a course.

   1. (1) To register for a scheduled training or continuing education course, an individual shall complete the registration form provided by AFRED and file the form with the AFRED training section at least seven calendar days prior to the course. AFRED shall also accept course registrations via regular mail, electronic mail, or facsimile transmission; such requests shall include the applicant's full name, address, phone number, electronic mail address, and the name and date of the requested course.

   2. (2) Costs for courses.

      1. (A) Requests for training courses shall include the appropriate nonrefundable course fee of $75 for an eight-hour course, $150 for the 16-hour Category I training course, and $750 for the 80-hour Category E seminar. The Category E and I seminar fees do not include the fee to take the management-level rules examination which is described in §9.10 of this title (relating to Rules Examination).
      2. (B) Continuing education courses, other than courses P115, P116, and P117, shall be offered at no charge to certificate holders who have timely paid the annual certificate renewal fee specified in §9.9 of this title (relating to Requirements for Certificate Renewal).
      3. (C) The Commission may charge reasonable fees for materials for GAS Check or similar courses using third-party materials.
   3. (3) The Commission shall schedule individuals to attend courses on a first-come, first-served basis. If any course has fewer than eight individuals registered within seven calendar days prior to the course, the Commission may cancel the course and shall refund any course registration fees.
   4. (4) If a previously registered individual is unable to attend the course at the time and place for which the individual is registered due to illness or other unforeseen circumstances, another individual from the same company may attend that same course in his or her place.
   5. (5) Applicants who take courses offered by an entity other than the Commission shall comply with the registration, fee, and other requirements specified by that entity.
7. (g) Retention of records. Individual employees shall be responsible for promptly notifying the AFRED training section of any discrepancies or errors in the training or continuing education records, and shall notify the Pipeline and LP-Gas Safety Section for discrepancies or errors in examination records. In the event of a discrepancy, the Commission's records shall be deemed correct unless the individual has copies of applicable documents which clarify the discrepancy.

Source Note:The provisions of this §9.51 adopted to be effective February 1, 2001, 26 TexReg 947.