HOUSTON —The roofing industry in Texas is just about the only home-repair business that does not require a license.

“We probably have the most lax regulation of roofing contractors in the nation,” Mayor Bill White said.

Now Houston's mayor has proposed an emergency measure to help prevent scams. It would require all roofers to provide proof of insurance, an address and ID before they can get a permit.

“It is much harder to sue somebody you can’t find and you have no evidence at all of whom or what they were,” said Mayor White.

But the mayor’s problem has become finding political support.

“It’s my fear that only the legitimate roofers will comply with this,” Houston City Council member Anne Clutterbuck said.

And she isn’t the only one that disagrees with the mayor’s proposal.

“I know that we want to protect people and we want to protect our citizens, but I also want to try to protect the business environment that we have in this city,” Houston City Council member Mike Sullivan said.

Even the head of Houston’s Better Business Bureau questions whether the mayor’s plan would work.

Dan Parsons says the best way to find out if a roofer is reputable is to call the Better Business Bureau. Even if the roofer is from out of town, there should still be a record of whether they are any good.

As a compromise the mayor now plans to ask legitimate roofers to voluntarily add themselves to a list of contractors. It’s something you can check in the next few days.

“What we want to do is get the data. If there’s some fly-by-night operation at least we know who they are, and if the consumer has a problem at least we can find them,” said White.