By: Hochberg H.B. No. 161
73R1486 CAG-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to an exception for certain nonprofit organizations from
1-3 the requirements of the Private Investigators and Private Security
1-4 Agencies Act.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 3(a), 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 (a) This Act does not apply to:
1-10 (1) a person employed exclusively and regularly by one
1-11 employer in connection with the affairs of an employer only and
1-12 where there exists an employer-employee relationship; provided,
1-13 however, any person who shall carry a firearm in the course of his
1-14 employment shall be required to obtain a private security officer
1-15 commission under the provisions of this Act;
1-16 (2) except as provided by Subsection (d) of this
1-17 Section, an officer or employee of the United States of America, or
1-18 of this State or political subdivision of either, while the
1-19 employee or officer is engaged in the performance of official
1-20 duties;
1-21 (3) a person who has full-time employment as a peace
1-22 officer as defined by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, who
1-23 receives compensation for private employment on an individual or an
1-24 independent contractor basis as a patrolman, guard, or watchman if
2-1 such person is:
2-2 (A) employed in an employee-employer
2-3 relationship; or
2-4 (B) employed on an individual contractual basis;
2-5 (C) not in the employ of another peace officer;
2-6 and
2-7 (D) not a reserve peace officer;
2-8 (4) a person engaged exclusively in the business of
2-9 obtaining and furnishing information for purposes of credit
2-10 worthiness or collecting debts or ascertaining the financial
2-11 responsibility of applicants for property insurance and for
2-12 indemnity or surety bonds, with respect to persons, firms, and
2-13 corporations;
2-14 (5) an attorney-at-law in performing his duties;
2-15 (6) admitted insurers, insurance adjusters, agents,
2-16 and insurance brokers licensed by the State, performing duties in
2-17 connection with insurance transacted by them;
2-18 (7) a person who engages exclusively in the business
2-19 of repossessing property that is secured by a mortgage or other
2-20 security interest;
2-21 (8) a locksmith who does not install or service
2-22 detection devices, does not conduct investigations, and is not a
2-23 security service contractor;
2-24 (9) a person who owns and installs burglar detection
2-25 or alarm devices on his own property or, if he does not charge for
2-26 the device or its installation, installs it for the protection of
2-27 his personal property located on another's property, and does not
3-1 install the devices as a normal business practice on the property
3-2 of another;
3-3 (10) an employee of a cattle association who is
3-4 engaged in inspection of brands of livestock under the authority
3-5 granted to that cattle association by the Packers and Stockyards
3-6 Division of the United States Department of Agriculture;
3-7 (11) the provisions of this Act shall not apply to
3-8 common carriers by rail engaged in interstate commerce and
3-9 regulated by state and federal authorities and transporting
3-10 commodities essential to the national defense and to the general
3-11 welfare and safety of the community;
3-12 (12) registered professional engineers practicing in
3-13 accordance with the provisions of the Texas Engineering Practice
3-14 Act;
3-15 (13) a person whose sale of burglar alarm signal
3-16 devices, burglary alarms, television cameras, still cameras, or
3-17 other electrical, mechanical, or electronic devices used for
3-18 preventing or detecting burglary, theft, shoplifting, pilferage, or
3-19 other losses is exclusively over-the-counter or by mail order;
3-20 (14) a person who holds a license or other form of
3-21 permission issued by an incorporated city or town to practice as an
3-22 electrician and who installs fire or smoke detectors in no building
3-23 other than a single family or multifamily residence;
3-24 (15) a person or organization in the business of
3-25 building construction that installs electrical wiring and devices
3-26 that may include in part the installation of a burglar alarm or
3-27 detection device if:
4-1 (A) the person or organization is a party to a
4-2 contract that provides that the installation will be performed
4-3 under the direct supervision of and inspected and certified by a
4-4 person or organization licensed to install and certify such an
4-5 alarm or detection device and that the licensee assumes full
4-6 responsibility for the installation of the alarm or detection
4-7 device; and
4-8 (B) the person or organization does not service
4-9 or maintain burglar alarms or detection devices;
4-10 (16) a reserve peace officer while the reserve officer
4-11 is performing guard, patrolman, or watchman duties for a county and
4-12 is being compensated solely by that county;
4-13 (17) response to a burglar alarm or detection device
4-14 by a law enforcement agency or by a law enforcement officer acting
4-15 in an official capacity;
4-16 (18) a person who, by education, experience, or
4-17 background has specialized expertise or knowledge such as that
4-18 which would qualify or tend to qualify such person as an expert
4-19 witness, authorized to render opinions in proceedings conducted in
4-20 a court, administrative agency, or governing body of this state or
4-21 of the United States, in accordance with applicable rules and
4-22 regulations and who does not perform any other service for which a
4-23 license is required by provisions of this Act;
4-24 (19) an officer, employee, or agent of a common
4-25 carrier, as defined by Section 153(h), Communications Act of 1934
4-26 (47 U.S.C.A. Sec. 151 et seq.), while protecting the carrier or a
4-27 user of the carrier's long-distance services from a fraudulent,
5-1 unlawful, or abusive use of those long-distance services;
5-2 (20) a person who sells or installs automobile burglar
5-3 alarm devices;
5-4 (21) a manufacturer, or a manufacturer's authorized
5-5 distributor, who sells to the holder of a license under this Act
5-6 equipment used in the operations for which the holder is required
5-7 to be licensed;
5-8 (22) a person employed as a noncommissioned security
5-9 officer by a political subdivision of this state;
5-10 (23) a person whose activities are regulated under
5-11 Article 5.43-2, Insurance Code, except to the extent that those
5-12 activities are specifically regulated under this Act;
5-13 (24) a landman performing activities in the course and
5-14 scope of the landman's business;
5-15 (25) a hospital or a wholly owned subsidiary or
5-16 affiliate of a hospital that provides medical alert services for
5-17 persons who are sick or disabled, if the hospital, subsidiary, or
5-18 affiliate is licensed under Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code,
5-19 and the hospital does not perform any other service that requires a
5-20 license under this Act;
5-21 (26) a charitable, nonprofit organization that
5-22 provides medical alert services for persons who are sick or
5-23 disabled, if the organization:
5-24 (A) is exempt from taxation under Section
5-25 501(c)(3), Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
5-26 (B) has its monitoring services provided by a
5-27 licensed person or hospital or a wholly owned subsidiary or
6-1 affiliate of a hospital licensed under Chapter 241, Health and
6-2 Safety Code; and
6-3 (C) does not perform any other service that
6-4 requires a license under his Act; <or>
6-5 (27) a person engaged in the business of electronic
6-6 monitoring of a person as a condition of that person's probation,
6-7 parole, mandatory supervision, or release on bail, if the person
6-8 does not perform any other service that requires a license under
6-9 this Act; or
6-10 (28) a nonprofit business or civic organization that:
6-11 (A) employs one or more peace officers as
6-12 patrolmen, guards, or watchmen, whether in an employee-employer
6-13 relationship or on an individual contract basis;
6-14 (B) provides the services of these peace
6-15 officers only to:
6-16 (i) its members; or
6-17 (ii) if the organization does not have
6-18 members, the members of the communities served by the organization
6-19 as described in its articles of incorporation or other
6-20 organizational documents;
6-21 (C) devotes the net receipts from all charges
6-22 for the services exclusively to the cost of providing the services
6-23 or to the costs of other services for the enhancement of the
6-24 security or safety of:
6-25 (i) its members; or
6-26 (ii) if the organization does not have
6-27 members, the members of the communities served by the organization
7-1 as described in its articles of incorporation or other
7-2 organizational documents; and
7-3 (D) does not perform any other service that
7-4 requires a license under this Act.
7-5 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
7-6 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
7-10 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
7-11 passage, and it is so enacted.