By Hochberg H.B. No. 161
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the Private Investigators and Private Security
1-3 Agencies Act and to exceptions for certain nonprofit organizations
1-4 and the definition of certain companies.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 2(5), Private Investigators and Private
1-7 Security Agencies Act (Article 4413(29bb), Vernon's Texas Civil
1-8 Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-9 (5) "Alarm systems company" means any person that
1-10 sells, installs, services, monitors, or responds to burglar alarm
1-11 signal devices, burglar alarms, television cameras, still cameras
1-12 or any other electrical, mechanical, or electronic device used:
1-13 (A) to prevent or detect burglary, theft,
1-14 shoplifting, pilferage, or other losses of that type;
1-15 (B) to prevent or detect intrusion; or
1-16 (C) primarily to detect or <and> summon aid for
1-17 other emergencies.
1-18 SECTION 2. Section 3(a), Private Investigators and Private
1-19 Security Agencies Act (Article 4413(29bb), Vernon's Texas Civil
1-20 Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-21 (a) This Act does not apply to:
1-22 (1) a person employed exclusively and regularly by one
1-23 employer in connection with the affairs of an employer only and
1-24 where there exists an employer-employee relationship; provided,
2-1 however, any person who shall carry a firearm in the course of his
2-2 employment shall be required to obtain a private security officer
2-3 commission under the provisions of this Act;
2-4 (2) except as provided by Subsection (d) of this
2-5 Section, an officer or employee of the United States of America, or
2-6 of this State or political subdivision of either, while the
2-7 employee or officer is engaged in the performance of official
2-8 duties;
2-9 (3) a person who has full-time employment as a peace
2-10 officer as defined by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, who
2-11 receives compensation for private employment on an individual or an
2-12 independent contractor basis as a patrolman, guard, or watchman if
2-13 such person is:
2-14 (A) employed in an employee-employer
2-15 relationship; or
2-16 (B) employed on an individual contractual basis;
2-17 (C) not in the employ of another peace officer;
2-18 and
2-19 (D) not a reserve peace officer;
2-20 (4) a person engaged exclusively in the business of
2-21 obtaining and furnishing information for purposes of credit
2-22 worthiness or collecting debts or ascertaining the financial
2-23 responsibility of applicants for property insurance and for
2-24 indemnity or surety bonds, with respect to persons, firms, and
2-25 corporations;
2-26 (5) an attorney-at-law in performing his duties;
2-27 (6) admitted insurers, insurance adjusters, agents,
3-1 and insurance brokers licensed by the State, performing duties in
3-2 connection with insurance transacted by them;
3-3 (7) a person who engages exclusively in the business
3-4 of repossessing property that is secured by a mortgage or other
3-5 security interest;
3-6 (8) a locksmith who does not install or service
3-7 detection devices, does not conduct investigations, and is not a
3-8 security service contractor;
3-9 (9) a person who owns and installs burglar detection
3-10 or alarm devices on his own property or, if he does not charge for
3-11 the device or its installation, installs it for the protection of
3-12 his personal property located on another's property, and does not
3-13 install the devices as a normal business practice on the property
3-14 of another;
3-15 (10) an employee of a cattle association who is
3-16 engaged in inspection of brands of livestock under the authority
3-17 granted to that cattle association by the Packers and Stockyards
3-18 Division of the United States Department of Agriculture;
3-19 (11) the provisions of this Act shall not apply to
3-20 common carriers by rail engaged in interstate commerce and
3-21 regulated by state and federal authorities and transporting
3-22 commodities essential to the national defense and to the general
3-23 welfare and safety of the community;
3-24 (12) registered professional engineers practicing in
3-25 accordance with the provisions of the Texas Engineering Practice
3-26 Act;
3-27 (13) a person whose sale of burglar alarm signal
4-1 devices, burglary alarms, television cameras, still cameras, or
4-2 other electrical, mechanical, or electronic devices used for
4-3 preventing or detecting burglary, theft, shoplifting, pilferage, or
4-4 other losses is exclusively over-the-counter or by mail order;
4-5 (14) a person who holds a license or other form of
4-6 permission issued by an incorporated city or town to practice as an
4-7 electrician and who installs fire or smoke detectors in no building
4-8 other than a single family or multifamily residence;
4-9 (15) a person or organization in the business of
4-10 building construction that installs electrical wiring and devices
4-11 that may include in part the installation of a burglar alarm or
4-12 detection device if:
4-13 (A) the person or organization is a party to a
4-14 contract that provides that the installation will be performed
4-15 under the direct supervision of and inspected and certified by a
4-16 person or organization licensed to install and certify such an
4-17 alarm or detection device and that the licensee assumes full
4-18 responsibility for the installation of the alarm or detection
4-19 device; and
4-20 (B) the person or organization does not service
4-21 or maintain burglar alarms or detection devices;
4-22 (16) a reserve peace officer while the reserve officer
4-23 is performing guard, patrolman, or watchman duties for a county and
4-24 is being compensated solely by that county;
4-25 (17) response to a burglar alarm or detection device
4-26 by a law enforcement agency or by a law enforcement officer acting
4-27 in an official capacity;
5-1 (18) a person who, by education, experience, or
5-2 background has specialized expertise or knowledge such as that
5-3 which would qualify or tend to qualify such person as an expert
5-4 witness, authorized to render opinions in proceedings conducted in
5-5 a court, administrative agency, or governing body of this state or
5-6 of the United States, in accordance with applicable rules and
5-7 regulations and who does not perform any other service for which a
5-8 license is required by provisions of this Act;
5-9 (19) an officer, employee, or agent of a common
5-10 carrier, as defined by Section 153(h), Communications Act of 1934
5-11 (47 U.S.C.A. Sec. 151 et seq.), while protecting the carrier or a
5-12 user of the carrier's long-distance services from a fraudulent,
5-13 unlawful, or abusive use of those long-distance services;
5-14 (20) a person who sells or installs automobile burglar
5-15 alarm devices;
5-16 (21) a manufacturer, or a manufacturer's authorized
5-17 distributor, who sells to the holder of a license under this Act
5-18 equipment used in the operations for which the holder is required
5-19 to be licensed;
5-20 (22) a person employed as a noncommissioned security
5-21 officer by a political subdivision of this state;
5-22 (23) a person whose activities are regulated under
5-23 Article 5.43-2, Insurance Code, except to the extent that those
5-24 activities are specifically regulated under this Act;
5-25 (24) a landman performing activities in the course and
5-26 scope of the landman's business;
5-27 (25) a hospital or a wholly owned subsidiary or
6-1 affiliate of a hospital that provides medical alert services for
6-2 persons who are sick or disabled, if the hospital, subsidiary, or
6-3 affiliate is licensed under Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code,
6-4 and the hospital does not perform any other service that requires a
6-5 license under this Act;
6-6 (26) a charitable, nonprofit organization that
6-7 provides medical alert services for persons who are sick or
6-8 disabled, if the organization:
6-9 (A) is exempt from taxation under Section
6-10 501(c)(3), Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
6-11 (B) has its monitoring services provided by a
6-12 licensed person or hospital or a wholly owned subsidiary or
6-13 affiliate of a hospital licensed under Chapter 241, Health and
6-14 Safety Code; and
6-15 (C) does not perform any other service that
6-16 requires a license under his Act; <or>
6-17 (27) a person engaged in the business of electronic
6-18 monitoring of a person as a condition of that person's probation,
6-19 parole, mandatory supervision, or release on bail, if the person
6-20 does not perform any other service that requires a license under
6-21 this Act;
6-22 (28) a nonprofit business or civic organization that:
6-23 (A) employs one or more peace officers meeting
6-24 the qualifications of Subdivision (3) of this subsection as
6-25 patrolmen, guards, or watchmen;
6-26 (B) provides the services of these peace
6-27 officers only to:
7-1 (i) its members; or
7-2 (ii) if the organization does not have
7-3 members, the members of the communities served by the organization
7-4 as described in its articles of incorporation or other
7-5 organizational documents;
7-6 (C) devotes the net receipts from all charges
7-7 for the services exclusively to the cost of providing the services
7-8 or to the costs of other services for the enhancement of the
7-9 security or safety of:
7-10 (i) its members; or
7-11 (ii) if the organization does not have
7-12 members, the members of the communities served by the organization
7-13 as described in its articles of incorporation or other
7-14 organizational documents; and
7-15 (D) does not perform any other service that
7-16 requires a license under this Act; or
7-17 (29) a charitable, nonprofit organization that
7-18 maintains a system of records to aid in the location of missing
7-19 children if the organization:
7-20 (A) is exempt from federal taxation under
7-21 Section 501(c)(3), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and its
7-22 subsequent amendments;
7-23 (B) exclusively provides services related to
7-24 locating missing children; and
7-25 (C) does not perform any other service that
7-26 requires a license under this Act.
7-27 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
8-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
8-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
8-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
8-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
8-5 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
8-6 passage, and it is so enacted.