1. (a) The effective date of this section shall be January 1, 1999. Training programs that are intended to satisfy the requirements of this section, that are started on or after the effective date of this section, must meet the curriculum, competencies, and hour requirements of this section. All applicants for certification must meet the examination requirements of this section.

2. (b) In order to be certified as a Hazardous Materials Technician an individual must complete a commission approved hazardous materials technician program and successfully pass the commission examination as specified in Chapter 439 of this title (relating to Examinations for Certification). An approved hazardous materials technician program must consist of one of the following:

   1. (1) completion of a commission approved Hazardous Materials Technician Curriculum of at least 80 hours as specified in Chapter 6 of the Commission's document titled "Commission Certification Curriculum Manual," as approved by the Commission in accordance with Chapter 443 of this title (relating to Certification Curriculum Manual).
   2. (2) completion of an out-of-state training program that has been submitted to the commission for evaluation and found to be equivalent to or exceed the commission approved Hazardous Materials Technician Curriculum.
   3. (3) completion of a military training program that has been submitted to the commission for evaluation and found to be equivalent or exceed the commission approved Hazardous Materials Technician Curriculum.
3. (c) Out-of-state or military training programs which are submitted to the commission for the purpose of determining equivalency will be considered equivalent if all competencies set forth in Chapter 6 (pertaining to Hazardous Materials Technician) of the "Commission Certification Curriculum Manual" are met.
4. (d) The commission approved hazardous materials technician curriculum must be conducted by a training facility that has been certified by the commission as provided in Chapter 427 of this title (relating to Certified Training Facilities).
5. (e) An individual from another jurisdiction who possesses valid documentation of accreditation from the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress as First Responder Awareness Level, First Responder Operations Level, and Hazardous Materials Technician shall be eligible to take the commission written examination for hazardous materials technician.

6. (f) No individual will be permitted to take the commission examination for hazardous materials technician unless the individual:

   1. (1) meets the requirements of §453.1(b) of this title (relating to Hazardous Materials Technician Certification); and
   2. (2) documents completion of the first responder operations level training as required by Chapter 1, Basic Fire Suppression, of the "Commission Certification Curriculum Manual" or provides an affidavit from the individual's fire chief that the individual meets the competencies required by Chapter 1 of the "Commission Certification Curriculum Manual."

Source Note:The provisions of this §453.3 adopted to be effective September 1, 1997, 22 TexReg 7904.