Insurance Code § 6002.301 states the prohibitions in three lines, and they are broader than the licensing rules that fill most of this book. An individual or organization may not plan, certify, lease, sell, service, install, monitor, or maintain a fire alarm or fire detection device or system WITHOUT A LICENSE OR REGISTRATION CERTIFICATE. It may not OBTAIN OR ATTEMPT TO OBTAIN a registration certificate or license by FRAUDULENT REPRESENTATION. And it may not do any of those activities IN VIOLATION OF THIS CHAPTER OR THE RULES ADOPTED UNDER IT. That third limb is the one to notice: it makes every requirement in this book a prohibited practice when breached, so the list is not three narrow offenses but two specific ones and a general one.

Investigations begin in one of two ways, and neither is a routine inspection. 28 TAC § 34.625 provides that the state fire marshal, or the state fire marshal’s representative, MAY CONDUCT INVESTIGATIONS OF REGISTERED FIRMS to determine compliance with Insurance Code Chapter 6002 and the subchapter, and that an investigation may be initiated ON THE WRITTEN COMPLAINT OF ANY PARTY or BY THE DEPARTMENT ON ITS OWN MOTION. Any party is wide — a customer, a competitor, a local authority, an occupant. And the subject named is the registered FIRM, which is consistent with everything Chapter 3 established about where authority sits.

When an investigation finds something, the rule fixes what happens next before any question of penalty arises. WHEN AN INVESTIGATION REVEALS NONCOMPLIANCE, THE FIRM AND ANY LICENSEE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WORK SHALL BE NOTIFIED IN WRITING of the noncompliance UPON COMPLETION OF THE INVESTIGATION REPORT. Two recipients again, the firm and the individual, exactly as the interlock in Chapter 3 would predict. And 28 TAC § 34.605 says how notice under the statute or the subchapter may be given: by personal service or by mail, postage prepaid, addressed to the person at the LAST KNOWN ADDRESS of their residence or business AS IT APPEARS ON THE RECORDS in the State Fire Marshal’s Office. Chapter 6 made the point about keeping that address current for renewal notices. It applies with more force here.