Texas consumers can vet companies ahead of time through TDLR resources

In this week's 7 On Your Side, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation holds companies across 38 industries accountable, and there are ways the public can utilize the information that’s available. Carissa Lehmkuhl reports.

AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation holds companies across 38 industries accountable, and there are ways the public can utilize the information that’s available.

"There are a lot of folks out there who claim to be able to do things that they are not licensed to do," said Tela Mange, spokesperson for TDLR. "And in some of those cases, it could be your health and safety or your family's health and safety that could be at risk."

TDLR’s Safeguarding Texans page provides a list of businesses that are not currently authorized to perform licensed services in Texas. The list includes business information as well as the basis for the order.

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Levels of TDLR enforcement can vary depending on the type of violation.

A permanent injunction is issued when a company is providing services that it is not licensed for. A cease and desist order is issued when a company never had any kind of license obtained through TDLR. A license revocation can be executed for a variety of reasons. Companies can usually reapply after a year unless it's a permanent revocation.

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"It's a serious thing to revoke a license, that's taking someone's livelihood away," said Mange. "And so we want to make sure that when we do that, there's cause for it, that there's a good reason. And if we can get them to do the thing they should be doing, we're going to do that."

Consumers can also see if companies have been penalized by TDLR in the last couple of years by visiting the Administrative Orders page.

These can be issued for lesser offenses and usually result in some kind of fine.

"Maybe they didn't get their license revoked, but they had to pay a penalty because they didn't have paperwork that they needed to have, or they were doing things in their salon that weren't safe for hygiene, and we wrote them up for that," said Mange. "You need to be really careful about who has access to your house, who has access to your business, who has access to your body. Check the license, and then go a step further and see, ‘Did these folks have a history of having administrative penalties assessed against them? And do I feel okay about that?’"

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