Enrolled Bill Summary

House Bill 2617 amends the Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies Act to continue the Texas Board of Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies until September 1, 2009. The act changes the name of the board to the Texas Commission on Private Security and renames the Act the Private Security Act.

The act restructures the board by adding two public members and one industry member and deleting the ex officio position of the attorney general and clarifies the board's duties. The act authorizes the board to commission full-time investigators as peace officers for the limited purpose of investigating alleged violations of the Act and board rules and amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to include these investigators in the list of people who are peace officers.

House Bill 2617 clarifies who is covered by the provisions of the Act. It deletes the exemption for expert witnesses, adds uniformed security employees at locations that are open to the public, exempts security personnel and peace officers who are employed by institutions of higher education and peace officers who work a second job as an extra job coordinator, and clarifies that an attorney is exempt while engaged in the practice of law and a licensed professional engineer is exempt when performing burglar alarm system engineering and necessary data collection.

The board is required to develop and distribute material containing all applicable state laws and board rules and to test an applicant's knowledge of the material on the licensing examination, to enhance the handgun training required for commissioned security officers, and to reduce the license renewal period and renewal fee for noncommissioned security officers. The act streamlines the commission's licensing function by eliminating paperwork and allowing for the payment of fees and fines to be completed by electronic funds transfer.

House Bill 2617 requires the board to conduct a state and federal criminal history check on each applicant for a license, registration, security officer commission, letter of approval, permit, or certification. The act requires the board to prohibit a person from working in the investigations and security industry if convicted of a felony or Class A misdemeanor or convicted of a Class B misdemeanor less than five years ago. It allows an applicant to appeal the denial of a license, registration, or security commission to the board under certain circumstances. The board's authority to apply a civil penalty instead of suspending a license is revoked by the act. The Government Code is amended to require the Bureau of Identification and Records to keep a list of all criminal history background checks that revealed a Class B misdemeanor or an equivalent or greater offense on applicants regulated under the Act.

The act clarifies the board's authority to impose an administrative penalty on a person licensed, commissioned, or registered under the Act, provides standard criteria for applying the fines, and prescribes options available to a violator. The act makes it a state jail felony to serve a warrant without a license to individuals who have skipped bail. It requires the board to make information regarding disciplinary actions for the previous three years available to the public in an efficient and accessible method.

House Bill 2617 prohibits a political subdivision from offering to sell, service, install, or monitor alarm systems except under certain circumstances. The act increases certain fees and creates new fees for the renewal of a noncommissioned security officer license and a renewal letter of authority for private businesses and political subdivisions. It expands certain definitions and updates sections relating to sunset recommendations that are applied to all agencies.