Current through Reg. 50, No. 13; March 28, 2025
(a) In addition to
complying with NFPA 58, §§4.4 and 11.2, individuals shall comply with
the training and continuing education requirements in this chapter.
(b) Applicants for new certificates, as set
forth in §
9.8 of this title (relating to
Requirements and Application for a New Certificate) and persons holding
existing certificates or a Dispenser Operations certificate exemption shall
comply with the training or continuing education requirements in this chapter.
Any individual who fails to comply with the training or continuing education
requirements by the assigned deadline may regain certification by paying the
nonrefundable course fee and satisfactorily completing an authorized training
or continuing education course within two years of the deadline. In addition to
paying the course fee, the person shall pay any fee or late penalties to
AFS.
(c) The training requirements
apply to:
(1) applicants for Category D, E,
F, G, I, J, K, or M management-level certificates; and
(2) applicants for the following
employee-level certifications:
(C) recreational vehicle
technician;
(D) service and
installation technician;
(E)
appliance service and installation technician; and
(F) motor/mobile fuel filler.
(d) The continuing
education requirements apply to the following individuals:
(1) Category D, E, F, G, I, J, K, and M
management-level certificate holders;
(2) 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)
individuals holding the following employee-level certifications:
(C) recreational vehicle
technician;
(D) service and
installation technician;
(E)
appliance service and installation technician; and
(F) motor/mobile fuel filler; and
(4) individuals holding a
Dispenser Operations certificate exemption.
(e) The training and continuing education
requirements do not apply to an individual who:
(1) drives or fuels a motor vehicle powered
by LP-gas as an ultimate consumer;
(2) fuels motor vehicles as an employee of an
ultimate consumer;
(3) is employed
by a state agency, county, municipality, school district, or other governmental
subdivision;
(4) holds a general
installers and repairman exemption; or
(5) holds a management or employee-level
certification not specified in subsection (c) or (d) of this section.
(f) Except as provided in §
9.41(b) of this
title (relating to Testing of LP-Gas Systems in School Facilities), each
individual who performs LP-gas activities as an employee of an ultimate
consumer or a state agency, county, municipality, school district, or other
governmental subdivision shall be properly supervised by his or her employer.
Any such individual who is not certified by the Commission to perform such
LP-gas activities shall be properly trained by a competent person in the safe
performance of such LP-gas activities.
(g) Individual credit. Successful completion
of any required training or continuing education course shall be credited to
and accrue to the individual.
(h)
No partial credit. Individuals attending courses shall receive credit only if
they attend the entire course and pay any training or continuing education
course fees in full. The Commission shall not award partial credit for partial
attendance.
(i) Schedules. Dates
and locations of available AFS LP-gas training and continuing education courses
can be obtained on the Commission's web site. AFS courses shall be conducted in
Austin and in other locations around the state. Individuals or companies may
request in writing that AFS courses be taught in their area. AFS shall schedule
courses at its discretion.
(j)
Course registration and scheduling.
(1)
Registering for a course. To register for a scheduled training or continuing
education course, an individual shall complete the online registration process
at least seven days prior to the course.
(2) Costs for courses.
(A) Each registration for a training course
shall require the payment of the applicable nonrefundable course fee as
follows:
(i) $75 for an eight-hour
course;
(ii) $150 for the 16-hour
Category F, G, I, and J course; and
(iii) $750 for the 80-hour Category E
course.
(B) The course
fees do not include the license or rules examination fees described in §
9.6 and §
9.10 of this title (relating to
License Categories, Container Manufacturer Registration, and Fees, and Rules
Examination, respectively).
(C)
Current certificate holders who have paid the annual renewal fee and who want
to add a new certification other than Category E, F, G, I or J shall not be
required to pay the $75 course fee.
(D) Continuing education courses 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 Holder Renewal).
(E) Requests for courses where no training or
continuing education course credit is given shall be submitted in writing to
the AFS training section. The AFS training section may conduct the requested
courses at its discretion. The nonrefundable fee for a non-credit course is
$250 if no overnight expenses are incurred by the AFS training section, or $500
if overnight expenses are incurred. AFS may waive the fee for a non-credit
course in cases where the Commission recovers the cost of the course from
another source, such as a grant.
(F) AFS may charge reasonable fees for
materials for courses using third-party materials.
(3) If any course has fewer than eight
individuals registered within seven calendar days prior to the course, AFS may
cancel the course and may reschedule the registered individuals in another
course agreed upon by the individuals and the AFS training section. The AFS
training section reserves the right to determine the number of course
registrants.
(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)
Applicants who take courses offered by an entity other than AFS shall comply
with the registration, fee, and other requirements specified by that
entity.
(k) An
individual registered to take a course shall bring the following items to the
course site:
(1) a registration confirmation
email or fax;
(2) proof of payment
unless exempt from the course fee; and
(3) documents required in §
9.10(b) of this
title if one or more examinations will be taken.
(l) Individual applicants or certificate
holders shall be responsible for promptly notifying the AFS training section in
writing of any discrepancies or errors in the training or continuing education
records, and shall notify AFS of any discrepancies or errors in examination
records or certificates. In the event of a discrepancy, AFS' records, including
due dates, shall be deemed correct unless the individual has copies of
applicable documents which clarify the discrepancy.
