§1846. Rules and regulations of commission; exceptions; reporting; data sharing; permit requirements; penalties; liability; state of emergency or disaster

A. Subject to the applicable provisions of Chapter 13 of Title 49 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, the commission has the power to make and enforce reasonable rules and regulations governing the storage, sale, and transportation of liquefied petroleum gases over the highways of the state, the installation of tanks or systems for the use of liquefied petroleum gases, and the installation and use of liquefied petroleum gas appliances as the commission may deem necessary in the interest of public safety.

B. In adopting rules and regulations, the commission shall be governed by the following provisions:

(1) The commission may adopt, as its own, the published regulations of the National Fire Protection Association, or any other nationally recognized agency, by reference thereto, or it may adopt any other reasonable rules and regulations it deems necessary in the interest of public safety.

(2) The rules and regulations relating to design and construction of liquefied petroleum gas containers shall be in reasonably substantial conformity with recognized published national standards.

(3) The rules and regulations shall provide that a dealer shall not serve any liquefied petroleum gas system which the dealer knows is improperly installed or in a dangerous condition. The rules and regulations shall require the following provisions relative to liquefied petroleum gas systems:

(a) In the interest of safety and for the protection of life and property, any end user who authorizes the maintenance and/or repair, installation, adjustment, and servicing of a liquefied petroleum gas system in the state of Louisiana shall insure that any person, firm, or corporation that may be employed and/or authorized to make such repairs has a current permit or registration and cards of competency from the Louisiana Liquefied Petroleum Gas Commission to perform maintenance and/or repair, installation, adjustment and/or servicing of that system.

(b) Any end user authorizing any action listed in R.S. 40:1846(B)(3)(a), where such actions are completed by any person, firm, or corporation other than the liquefied petroleum gas dealer who normally services the liquefied petroleum gas system, shall notify, as soon as possible, the servicing dealer authorized to service the affected liquefied petroleum gas system. This notification shall include:

(i) Name of the person, firm, or corporation that performed the service.

(ii) Actions taken to the affected liquefied petroleum gas systems such as adding piping, spaceheaters, and other such appliances. The end user shall make the described notification within five working days after completion of the action or before the liquefied petroleum gas system is next serviced with liquefied petroleum gas, whichever occurs first.

(c) It is unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation to repair, install, adjust, and/or service any liquefied petroleum gas system without meeting the requirements of the Louisiana Liquefied Petroleum Gas Commission.

(d) No person, firm, or corporation, except the owner thereof, or person, firm, or corporation authorized in writing by said owner, shall fill, refill, buy, sell, offer for sale, give, take, loan, dispose of, or traffic in, a liquefied petroleum gas container or tank.

(e) Any person, firm, or corporation convicted of violating any provision of this Paragraph shall be subject to penalties as provided in R.S. 40:1846.1(E).

(f) No person, firm, or corporation shall use, sell, or distribute liquefied petroleum gas for use in mobile air conditioning systems; however, the prohibition shall not apply to a refrigerant included on the list published by the Environmental Protection Agency as a safe, alternative motor vehicle air conditioning substitute for chlorofluorocarbon-12, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 7671k(c). For purposes of this Subparagraph "mobile air conditioning system" means mechanized vapor compression equipment which is used to cool the driver's or passenger's compartment of any motor vehicle. So that it may be determined whether the refrigerant is a liquefied petroleum gas, the proper shipping name shall be used on any product intended for use as a refrigerant in a mobile air conditioning system. Proper shipping names with a U.N. number and a hazard class and division number of liquefied petroleum gas per the United States Department of Transportation hazardous materials tables shall be prima facie evidence that the refrigerant is liquefied petroleum gas and is prohibited. Any advertising or other literature published by the manufacturer of the refrigerant promoting it as a replacement or drop-in for CFR-12 or HFC 134a, or both, shall be prima facie evidence that it is being sold for mobile air conditioning systems.

(4) The rules and regulations shall require each dealer to transmit a notice, once each year, to each customer stating that liquefied petroleum gas systems are potentially dangerous, that a leak in the system could result in a fire or explosion, and that systems should be inspected periodically.

(5) The rules and regulations shall require the following provisions regarding odorization and verification of odorization of liquefied petroleum gases:

(a) Except as otherwise provided in Subparagraph (b) of this Paragraph, each refinery, commercial storage facility, natural gas processing plant, pipeline, or other person which sells liquefied petroleum gas to a transporter, dealer, or distributor for distribution into the distribution chain to consumers shall odorize the liquefied petroleum gas in accordance with this Chapter.

(b) Liquefied petroleum gas shall not be required to be odorized if it is to be delivered to a manufacturer of products of which liquefied petroleum gas forms a component part, to any facility for further processing, to a commercial storage facility for storage, a natural gas processing plant, a refinery, a pipeline, or when odorization would be harmful in further use or processing of the gas and would not serve a useful purpose as a warning agent in further use or processing of the gas.

(c) Liquefied petroleum gas which is required to be odorized shall be effectively odorized by an approved agent of such character as to indicate positively, by a distinctive odor, the presence of gas down to concentrations in air of not over one-fifth the lower limit of flammability. The presence of odorization, when required, shall be positively verified by the dealer by a sniff test or other means, and the results shall be documented prior to delivery into his bulk plant or, when a shipment bypasses a bulk plant, prior to the delivery to a consumer. It is the intent of this Paragraph to prohibit the sale or delivery of liquefied petroleum gas by a dealer to a consumer without the required odorization.

(d) The odorization requirements shall be considered to be met by the use of one pound of ethyl mercaptan, one pound of thiophane, or one and four tenths pounds of amyl mercaptan per ten thousand gallons of liquefied petroleum gas, subject to the provisions of Subparagraph (e) of this Paragraph.

(e) In order to maintain the minimum concentration of odorant in the liquefied petroleum gas at the point of use by the consumer, the rules and regulations shall recommend that each person who is required to odorize gas under this Chapter use one and one-half pounds of odorant per ten thousand gallons of liquefied petroleum gas at the point of odorization.

(6) The only approved odorants are those specified in this Chapter; however, the rules and regulations may authorize the use of other odorants which are equal in effectiveness to the odorants specified in this Chapter.

(7) The rules and regulations shall require each person which transports liquefied petroleum gas which is exempt from the odorization requirements of this Chapter to keep records of all purchases of unodorized gas for three years. The records shall include bills of lading, loading tickets, and records of all deliveries of unodorized gas. Each delivery ticket and bill of lading shall be identified by reference to the bill of lading number.

(8) The rules and regulations adopted by the commission shall not be in conflict with the provisions of this Chapter.

C. The rules and regulations adopted by the commission shall be available to the public on the website of the commission. Any applicant, upon filing a formal application for a permit or registration, shall be mailed a copy of these rules and regulations upon receipt of his request. These rules and regulations may be supplemented from time to time in accordance with Administrative Procedure Act, R.S. 49:950 et seq. No other form of promulgation shall be required to make such rules and regulations or supplements thereto effective.

D. The power of regulation vested in the commission shall not extend to the plant site of a manufacturer of liquefied petroleum gases, or to the plant site of a manufacturer of products of which liquefied petroleum gases form a component part, or to installations or storage or delivery of such gases within the plant site of any such manufacturer.

E. This Part does not apply to manufacturers of liquefied petroleum gases, as defined in R.S. 40:1842(10), or to manufacturers of products of which liquefied petroleum gas forms a component part, as defined in R.S. 40:1842(11), who manufacture or purchase liquefied petroleum gases for use or consumption in their operations or who sell all or part of the liquefied petroleum gases so manufactured or purchased exclusively to a manufacturer of liquefied petroleum gases, to a manufacturer of products of which liquefied petroleum gas forms a component part, or to resellers as defined in R.S. 40:1842(12).

F. The commission shall cooperate with the deputy secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections to develop a means of sharing data regarding the location of storage tanks and other relevant data necessary to implement the information management system required to be reported under R.S. 30:2361, et seq. The administrative costs of transferring this data to the information management system shall be paid by the commission out of permit fees presently collected by the commission.

G.(1) Liquefied petroleum gas dealers and resellers, as defined in this Part, shall be subject to the provisions of this Part, including the obtaining of a permit, payment of a permit fee, and obtaining the required insurance. The permit fee amount shall be based on the cost of the liquefied petroleum gases or the sales price of those gases, whichever is greater.

(2) A manufacturer of liquefied petroleum gases or a manufacturer of products of which liquefied petroleum gas forms a component part, who is also a dealer or reseller within the meaning of this Part, shall not include within the term "annual gross sales", for the purpose of computing the permit fee as a dealer or reseller, those sales of liquefied petroleum gas made by such manufacturer to a manufacturer of liquefied petroleum gases, to a manufacturer of products of which liquefied petroleum gas forms a component part, or to resellers.

(3) It is the intent of this Part to make all sales, except those specifically exempted, subject to a permit fee at the reseller's point of sale and at the retail dealer's point of sale.

H. It shall be an affirmative defense to an action against any person engaged in this state in the business of selling at retail, supplying, handling, or transporting liquefied petroleum gas that an alleged injury, damage, or loss was caused by either of the following:

(1) The alteration, modification, or repair of liquefied petroleum gas equipment or a liquefied petroleum gas appliance if the alteration, modification, or repair was done without the knowledge of the liquefied petroleum gas seller, supplier, handler, or transporter.

(2) The use of liquefied petroleum gas equipment or a liquefied petroleum gas appliance in a manner or for a purpose other than that for which the equipment or appliance was intended and that purpose could not reasonably have been expected.

I. The commission or its appointed designee, may suspend any of the commission's rules and regulations in Chapter 1, 2, or 15 of Part IX of Title 55 of the Louisiana Administrative Code that do not materially affect safety during the time period of declaration of an emergency or disaster by the governor. The commission shall promulgate rules and regulations pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act providing for such suspension prior to exercising the authority granted in this Subsection.

Amended by Acts 1992, No. 323, §1, eff. June 17, 1992; Acts 1995, No. 1279, §1; Acts 1997, No. 550, §1; Acts 1997, No. 999, §1; Acts 2003, No. 275, §1, eff. June 10, 2003; Acts 2005, No. 71, §1; Acts 2009, No. 211, §1, eff. June 30, 2009; Acts 2010, No. 931, §1; Acts 2016, No. 422, §1.