In late 1968, a group of contractors from Air Conditioning Council of Greater Houston founded the original Texas Air Conditioning Contractors Association (TACCA) for the purpose of presenting legislation that would create a Texas Air Conditioning Contractors Law. Charlie Wright was elected the original President. This group proposed the original law which made it onto the consent calendar, however, a filibuster that session stopped all legislation and the bill never cleared the consent calendar. With limited success and minimal funds, this original group became inactive after a few years.

Fast forward to 1978 when discussions started back up about needing to get a license law passed. It was then that the original group of founders voted to allow the use of the original charter to launch a new TACCA organization reformed as a state chapter of Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA). In early 1979, the group adopted the existing charter of TACCA from 1969 and elected Bill Brister as its first president.

TACCA was now official and a recognized chapter of ACCA. Efforts were again focused on getting the necessary legislation put in place to accomplish its only goal at that time – to pass a licenses law. TACCA submitted Texas License Law S.B. 393 sponsored by Senator Jack Ogg, but again, efforts failed in the 1981 Texas Legislative Session.

This time TACCA members regrouped, recruited more members, and reintroduced the bill again in the 1983 session. TACCA succeeded, and effective September 1, 1983, the original license law went into effect. During the next few years TACCA established itself in Austin and continued to work on legislative issues.

In 1988, TACCA and the Greater Houston chapter co-hosted a state trade show and the following year the “Annual Trade Show and Meeting” was co-hosted in Dallas. These joint ventures gave contractors and suppliers a venue for networking and generated much-needed revenue for the local, state, and national organizations.

In 1992 TACCA hired its first (of three) full-time executive directors and was poised to move forward, and move forward it did:

• Filed the refrigerant purchasing bill and got it passed in 1997
• Passed a major license law clean-up bill, HB 1822, in 1999
• Added the definitions of "technician," "registered technician," and "certified technician" to the HVAC license law in 2007
• Worked with the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) to pass HB 32, the Franchise Tax Reduction Act of 2015
• Fought numerous noise bills
• Legislative efforts continuing to focus on contractor rights
• Created a successful and effective license exam prep course
• Developed continuing education course each year for license renewal
• Established the TEX-Mix program
• Formed new chapters around the state – there are currently ten chapters
• Became a leading source for contractor knowledge in Texas
• Nationally recognized as a model for other state organizations

TACCA is the enduring result of the vision of that original group of Texans, and the many contractors since, who have belief, faith, trust, commitment, and heart for the HVAC/R industry in Texas.

Join TACCA Today!