By Madden                                              H.B. No. 197
       74R992 PB-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to certain requirements for a bail bondsman license.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Sections 6(d) and (f), Chapter 550, Acts of the
    1-5  63rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article 2372p-3, Vernon's
    1-6  Texas Civil Statutes), are amended to read as follows:
    1-7        (d)  Prior to a hearing on the application, the board or its
    1-8  authorized representative shall conduct necessary inquiries to
    1-9  determine whether the applicant possesses the financial
   1-10  responsibility and meets the other requirements imposed under <of>
   1-11  this Act.  To determine whether an applicant possesses the
   1-12  necessary financial responsibility, the board may consider all
   1-13  relevant factors, including the ability of the applicant to pay all
   1-14  potential liability that may be incurred by the applicant as a
   1-15  bondsman.  The ability of an applicant to post the security
   1-16  required under Subsection (f) of this section is not sufficient in
   1-17  itself to establish that the applicant meets the financial
   1-18  responsibility requirement.
   1-19        (f)  Upon notice from the board that the application has been
   1-20  tentatively approved, the applicant shall then:
   1-21              (1)  deposit with the county treasurer of the county in
   1-22  which the license is to be issued a cashier's check, certificate of
   1-23  deposit, cash, or cash equivalent in the amount indicated by the
   1-24  applicant under Subdivision (5) of Subsection (a) of Section 6 of
    2-1  this Act but in no event less than $50,000 except in counties with
    2-2  populations of less than 250,000 persons by the most recent federal
    2-3  census, the amount for applicants in said counties shall be $10,000
    2-4  to be held in a special fund to be called the bail security fund;
    2-5  or
    2-6              (2)  execute in trust to the board deeds to the
    2-7  property listed by the applicant under Subdivision (4) of
    2-8  Subsection (a) of Section 6 of this Act, which property shall be
    2-9  valued in the amount indicated on an appraisal by a real estate
   2-10  appraiser who is a member in good standing of a nationally
   2-11  recognized professional appraiser society or trade organization
   2-12  that has an established code of ethics, educational program, and
   2-13  professional certification program, but in no event less than
   2-14  $50,000 valuation, except in counties with populations of less than
   2-15  250,000 persons by the most recent federal census, the amount for
   2-16  applicants in said counties shall be $10,000, the condition of the
   2-17  trust being that the property may be sold to satisfy any final
   2-18  judgment forfeitures that may be made in bonds on which the
   2-19  licensee is surety after such notice and upon such conditions as
   2-20  are required by the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1965, as amended,
   2-21  in bond forfeiture cases; the board shall file the deeds of trust
   2-22  in the records of each county in which the property is located, and
   2-23  the applicant shall pay the filing fees and any other costs
   2-24  incurred by the board in preparing and reviewing the appropriate
   2-25  legal documents, including reasonable and necessary attorney's
   2-26  fees.
   2-27              (3)  If the licensee is a corporation, it shall furnish
    3-1  to the sheriff an irrevocable letter of credit as a cash equivalent
    3-2  to satisfy any final judgment of forfeiture that may be made on any
    3-3  bonds on which the corporate licensee is surety.
    3-4        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
    3-5  applies to a license issued or renewed by a county bail bond board
    3-6  on or after that date.  A license issued or renewed before that
    3-7  date is governed by the law in effect on the date that the license
    3-8  was issued or renewed, and the former law is continued in effect
    3-9  for that purpose.
   3-10        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   3-11  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   3-12  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   3-13  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   3-14  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.