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.