By: Hilbert H.B. No. 1808
73R6122 JMM-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to an exemption for certain persons and organizations
1-3 under the Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies Act.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 3(a), Private Investigators and Private
1-6 Security Agencies Act (Article 4413(29bb), Vernon's Texas Civil
1-7 Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-8 (a) This Act does not apply to:
1-9 (1) a person employed exclusively and regularly by one
1-10 employer in connection with the affairs of an employer only and
1-11 where there exists an employer-employee relationship; provided,
1-12 however, any person who shall carry a firearm in the course of his
1-13 employment shall be required to obtain a private security officer
1-14 commission under the provisions of this Act;
1-15 (2) except as provided by Subsection (d) of this
1-16 Section, an officer or employee of the United States of America, or
1-17 of this State or a political subdivision of either, while the
1-18 employee or officer is engaged in the performance of official
1-19 duties;
1-20 (3) a person who has full-time employment as a peace
1-21 officer as defined by Article 2.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, who
1-22 receives compensation for private employment on an individual or an
1-23 independent contractor basis as a patrolman, guard, or watchman if
1-24 such person is:
2-1 (A) employed in an employee-employer
2-2 relationship; or
2-3 (B) employed on an individual contractual basis;
2-4 (C) not in the employ of another peace officer;
2-5 and
2-6 (D) not a reserve peace officer;
2-7 (4) a person engaged exclusively in the business of
2-8 obtaining and furnishing information for purposes of credit
2-9 worthiness or collecting debts or ascertaining the financial
2-10 responsibility of applicants for property insurance and for
2-11 indemnity or surety bonds, with respect to persons, firms, and
2-12 corporations;
2-13 (5) an attorney-at-law in performing his duties;
2-14 (6) admitted insurers, insurance adjusters, agents,
2-15 and insurance brokers licensed by the State, performing duties in
2-16 connection with insurance transacted by them;
2-17 (7) a person who engages exclusively in the business
2-18 of repossessing property that is secured by a mortgage or other
2-19 security interest;
2-20 (8) a locksmith who does not install or service
2-21 detection devices, does not conduct investigations, and is not a
2-22 security service contractor;
2-23 (9) a person who owns and installs burglar detection
2-24 or alarm devices on his own property or, if he does not charge for
2-25 the device or its installation, installs it for the protection of
2-26 his personal property located on another's property, and does not
2-27 install the devices as a normal business practice on the property
3-1 of another;
3-2 (10) an employee of a cattle association who is
3-3 engaged in inspection of brands of livestock under the authority
3-4 granted to that cattle association by the Packers and Stockyards
3-5 Division of the United States Department of Agriculture;
3-6 (11) the provisions of this Act shall not apply to
3-7 common carriers by rail engaged in interstate commerce and
3-8 regulated by state and federal authorities and transporting
3-9 commodities essential to the national defense and to the general
3-10 welfare and safety of the community;
3-11 (12) registered professional engineers practicing in
3-12 accordance with the provisions of the Texas Engineering Practice
3-13 Act;
3-14 (13) a person whose sale of burglar alarm signal
3-15 devices, burglary alarms, television cameras, still cameras, or
3-16 other electrical, mechanical, or electronic devices used for
3-17 preventing or detecting burglary, theft, shoplifting, pilferage, or
3-18 other losses is exclusively over-the-counter or by mail order;
3-19 (14) a person who holds a license or other form of
3-20 permission issued by an incorporated city or town to practice as an
3-21 electrician and who installs fire or smoke detectors in no building
3-22 other than a single family or multifamily residence;
3-23 (15) a person or organization in the business of
3-24 building construction that installs electrical wiring and devices
3-25 that may include in part the installation of a burglar alarm or
3-26 detection device if:
3-27 (A) the person or organization is a party to a
4-1 contract that provides that the installation will be performed
4-2 under the direct supervision of and inspected and certified by a
4-3 person or organization licensed to install and certify such an
4-4 alarm or detection device and that the licensee assumes full
4-5 responsibility for the installation of the alarm or detection
4-6 device; and
4-7 (B) the person or organization does not service
4-8 or maintain burglar alarms or detection devices;
4-9 (16) a reserve peace officer while the reserve officer
4-10 is performing guard, patrolman, or watchman duties for a county and
4-11 is being compensated solely by that county;
4-12 (17) response to a burglar alarm or detection device
4-13 by a law enforcement agency or by a law enforcement officer acting
4-14 in an official capacity;
4-15 (18) a person who, by education, experience, or
4-16 background has specialized expertise or knowledge such as that
4-17 which would qualify or tend to qualify such person as an expert
4-18 witness, authorized to render opinions in proceedings conducted in
4-19 a court, administrative agency, or governing body of this state or
4-20 of the United States, in accordance with applicable rules and
4-21 regulations and who does not perform any other service for which a
4-22 license is required by provisions of this Act;
4-23 (19) an officer, employee, or agent of a common
4-24 carrier, as defined by Section 153(h), Communications Act of 1934
4-25 (47 U.S.C.A. Sec. 151 et seq.), while protecting the carrier or a
4-26 user of the carrier's long-distance services from a fraudulent,
4-27 unlawful, or abusive use of those long-distance services;
5-1 (20) a person who sells or installs automobile burglar
5-2 alarm devices;
5-3 (21) a manufacturer, or a manufacturer's authorized
5-4 distributor, who sells to the holder of a license under this Act
5-5 equipment used in the operations for which the holder is required
5-6 to be licensed;
5-7 (22) a person employed as a noncommissioned security
5-8 officer by a political subdivision of this state;
5-9 (23) a person whose activities are regulated under
5-10 Article 5.43-2, Insurance Code, except to the extent that those
5-11 activities are specifically regulated under this Act;
5-12 (24) a landman performing activities in the course and
5-13 scope of the landman's business;
5-14 (25) a hospital or a wholly owned subsidiary or
5-15 affiliate of a hospital that provides medical alert services for
5-16 persons who are sick or disabled, if the hospital, subsidiary, or
5-17 affiliate is licensed under Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code,
5-18 and the hospital does not perform any other service that requires a
5-19 license under this Act;
5-20 (26) a charitable, nonprofit organization that
5-21 provides medical alert services for persons who are sick or
5-22 disabled, if the organization:
5-23 (A) is exempt from taxation under Section
5-24 501(c)(3), Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
5-25 (B) has its monitoring services provided by a
5-26 licensed person or hospital or a wholly owned subsidiary or
5-27 affiliate of a hospital licensed under Chapter 241, Health and
6-1 Safety Code; and
6-2 (C) does not perform any other service that
6-3 requires a license under this Act; <or>
6-4 (27) a person engaged in the business of electronic
6-5 monitoring of a person as a condition of that person's probation,
6-6 parole, mandatory supervision, or release on bail, if the person
6-7 does not perform any other service that requires a license under
6-8 this Act; or
6-9 (28) a charitable, nonprofit organization that
6-10 maintains a system of records to aid in the location of missing
6-11 children if the organization:
6-12 (A) is exempt from federal taxation under
6-13 Section 501(c)(3), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and its
6-14 subsequent amendments;
6-15 (B) provides services exclusively for Child
6-16 Search, Inc. (d.b.a. National Missing Children Center); and
6-17 (C) does not perform any other service that
6-18 requires a license under this Act.
6-19 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
6-20 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
6-21 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
6-22 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
6-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
6-24 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
6-25 passage, and it is so enacted.