The Texas Bureau of Labor Statistics was created in 1909 (House Bill 109, 31st Texas Legislature), headed by a commissioner appointed by the governor for a two-year term. The bureau was charged with collecting statistical information concerning the commercial, social, educational, and sanitary conditions of Texas employees and their families. Gradually the legislature added powers of administration and enforcement of industrial laws affecting the welfare of employees, employers and the general public, including wages, hours, timeliness of payment, health, safety, morals, child labor, etc. As of 1972, there were seven divisions: Labor Law, Safety, Employment Agency (to staff the Private Employment Agency Regulatory Board), Boxing and Wrestling, Boiler Inspection, Mobile Homes (to inspect electrical, plumbing, and heating, and body and frame design and construction of manufactured housing), and Accounting and Personnel. There were eventually twenty investigative field offices. In 1973 (House Bill 901, 63rd Texas Legislature) the name was changed to the Texas Department of Labor and Standards. The commissioner of the Department of Labor and Standards was advised by the following advisory bodies: the Private Employment Agency Regulatory Board, the Performance Certification Board for Mobile Homes, the Board of Boiler Rules, the Industrialized Building Code Council, the Manufactured Homeowners' Recovery Fund Board of Trustees, and the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors Advisory Board.
In 1989 (House Bill 863, 71st Texas Legislature), not only was the agency's name changed again, to Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, but a six-member Commission of Licensing and Regulation, appointed by the governor to six-year overlapping terms and confirmed by the Senate, was created to act as the governing body. Purely labor functions were transferred to the Texas Employment Commission (renamed the Texas Workforce Commission in 1995). The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation became the state's umbrella occupational regulatory agency, responsible for the regulation of 23 occupations and industries. As of January 2007, these areas include the following programs: eleven businesses and occupations (barbering, combative sports, cosmetologists, for-profit legal services, loss damage waivers, personnel employment services, service contract providers, staff leasing services, talent agencies, temporary common worker providers, and vehicle protection product warrantors), three professions (auctioneers, licensed court interpreters, property tax consultants), six building and mechanical industries (air conditioning and refrigeration, architectural barriers, boiler safety, electricians, elevator/escalator safety, industrialized housing and buildings), and three natural resources industries (water well drillers, water well pump installers, weather modification). In 2005 (Senate Bill 411, 79th Texas Legislature), the Texas Board of Barber Examiners and the Texas Cosmetology Commission were both abolished, and those functions transferred to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The commission issues licenses, certificates, or registrations; manages records; investigates complaints; and pursues appropriate legal remedies.
The commission, increased to seven members in 2003 (Senate Bill 279, 78th Texas Legislature), and the executive director whom the commission appoints, are assisted by the following advisory bodies: the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Contractors Advisory Board (six members), the Architectural Barriers Advisory Committee (nine members), the Auctioneer Education Advisory Board (eight members), the Barbering Advisory Board (five members), the Board of Boiler Rules (nine members), the Texas Cosmetology Advisory Board (five members), the Electrical Safety and Licensing Advisory Board (nine members), the Elevator Advisory Board (thirteen members), the Texas Industrialized Building Code Council (twelve members), the Licensed Court Interpreter Advisory Board (nine members), the Medical Advisory Committee (unknown number of members), the Property Tax Consultants Advisory Council (six members), the Service Contract Providers Advisory Board (six members), the Water Well Drillers Advisory Council (nine members), and the Texas Weather Modification Advisory Committee (five members).
(Sources include: Guide to Texas State Agencies, 4th edition (1972) and 11th edition (2001); the article on Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation by John G. Johnson in the New Handbook of Texas online ; the agency web site (http://www.license.state.tx.us/about.htm) (both websites accessed January 2007); and the enabling legislation, 1909, 1973, 1989, 2003, 2005.)
From the guide to the Department of Licensing and Regulation records, 1971-1998, 2002-2006, (Texas State Archives)
