The Trojan Horse Has Arrived: How Texas SB 1202 Will Erode Building Safety and Kill Objective Inspections

In June 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott quietly signed SB 1202 into law. On its face, the bill looks harmless—almost helpful. It allows homeowners to bypass municipal plan review and inspection requirements for home backup power systems under 600 volts by using a licensed third-party inspector or engineer. But beneath the surface, this bill is a loaded weapon pointed directly at the future of code enforcement in Texas. It’s a Trojan horse, and if left unchecked, it will metastasize across all phases of residential construction, ultimately gutting the authority of local building departments and neutering the role of qualified, objective inspectors.

Here’s what SB 1202 really does: it allows a property owner to hire their own inspector to review installation plans and inspect the completed backup power system—without ever submitting those plans to the city or county building department. Once that inspector sends a brief notice to the municipality, the law gives the green light to begin construction immediately. The local authority has just three business days to rubber-stamp the approval and is explicitly prohibited from charging any fees or requiring resubmission unless they’ve pre-published a detailed list of requirements and a fee schedule. If they fail to act in time, the installation is deemed compliant by default. Worse still, the municipality is absolved of all liability if something goes wrong. Only the private inspector bears the risk, assuming they can be located or sued successfully down the road.

Builders and legislators are already calling this a win for homeowners. In reality, it's a win for developers, vendors, and every contractor who has ever viewed code compliance as an obstacle to profits. It creates a two-tiered inspection system that favors those with deep pockets and connections—those who can afford a $15,000 generator and an engineer to sign off without delay—while leaving everyone else to navigate a shrinking, underfunded, and overworked municipal inspection system. Over time, this will produce a fragmented enforcement landscape, where the quality and integrity of inspections depend not on codes or standards, but on who is paying the inspector’s fee.

The real danger is what happens next. SB 1202 has set a legal precedent that directly undermines the authority of local building officials. If a private inspector can approve a high-voltage electrical installation, why not a foundation, a roof tie-down, or a load-bearing wall? That argument is inevitable—and it will win. The Legislature has now enshrined into law the idea that third-party professionals can override public safety officials and fast-track construction, no matter how complex or high-risk the installation. Cities that already rely heavily on outsourcing—like those contracting with Bureau Veritas, SAFEbuilt, or MetroCode—will find themselves increasingly sidelined. Municipal building departments will shrink, funding will dry up, and oversight will collapse under the weight of deregulation disguised as "efficiency."

Make no mistake: this bill will result in dangerous installations. Home standby power systems involve fuel supply lines, grounding, transfer switches, and grid interconnection. Without robust oversight, expect backfeeding into utility lines, generator exhausts placed within ignition distance of combustibles, and ungrounded or improperly bonded systems that could electrocute occupants or linemen. When these mistakes happen, there will be no recourse. The city will say, “We didn’t inspect it.” The contractor will say, “The engineer approved it.” And the third-party inspector? Good luck finding them, let alone holding them liable in civil court.

As this model expands—and it will—expect professional inspectors to become disposable. Municipalities won’t need in-house talent. Third-party inspection firms will operate as extensions of the builders they serve. Standards will loosen. Engineering letters will replace field inspections. Code enforcement will evolve into a system of checkbox compliance, with photo documentation replacing real accountability. It will look like oversight, but it won’t be. It will be performance theater. By the time the public realizes that thousands of homes were built under this model with unverified framing, electrical, or life-safety violations, it’ll be too late.

In the end, SB 1202 is not about generators. It’s about who controls the gatekeeping function of building safety in Texas. For now, it’s limited to backup power systems. But this bill is a beachhead—a pilot program in deregulated, builder-driven self-approval. If left unchallenged, it will expand to every critical phase of construction. The result will be more defective homes, more injuries, more lawsuits, and fewer people—if any—willing or able to stand in the way.

Inspectors, attorneys, code officials, and informed homeowners need to sound the alarm. This is not progress. This is a hostile takeover. And if we don’t fight it now, there may soon be nothing left to defend.