Amend CSHB 1561 by striking all below the enacting clause and
substituting the following:
      SECTION 1.  Section 218.003(a), Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
      (a)  If a municipality adopts an ordinance that requires a
person to obtain a permit from the municipality before the <a>
person may use an alarm system in the municipality, the ordinance
must provide that the permit is valid for at least one year.
      SECTION 2.  Section 218.005, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
      Sec. 218.005.  TERMINATION AND DISCRIMINATION.  (a)  <Except
as provided in Subsection (d) of this section, a municipality may
not terminate its law enforcement response to a permit holder
because of excess false alarms if the false alarm fees are paid in
full.>
      <(b)>  In permitting free false alarm responses and in
setting false alarm fees, a municipality must administer any
ordinance on a fair and equitable basis as determined by the
governing body.
      (b) <(c)>  A municipality may not terminate an alarm permit
for nonrenewal without providing at least 30 days' notice.
      (c) <(d)>  A municipality may set standards for alarm systems
to be permitted <and may refuse to permit particular systems which
in its discretion have a history of unreliability>.
      SECTION 3.  Section 218.006, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
      Sec. 218.006.  FALSE ALARM EXEMPTIONS <ON-SITE INSPECTION
REQUIRED>.  A municipality may not consider a false alarm to have
occurred unless a response is made by an agency of the municipality
within 30 minutes of the alarm notification and the agency
determines from an inspection of the interior or exterior of the
premises that the alarm was false.
      SECTION 4.  Section 218.007, Local Government Code, is
amended to read as follows:
      Sec. 218.007.  PENALTY LIMITATIONS.  (a)  During any
preceding 12-month period:
            (1)  a <A> municipality may not impose a <penalty or>
fee for the signaling of a false alarm <by a burglar alarm system>
unless <at least> five other false alarms have occurred; and
            (2)  a municipality may impose a fee of not more than
$100 each for the signaling of a false alarm after the fifth false
alarm <during the preceding 12-month period>.
      (b)  A municipality may terminate its law enforcement
response to an alarm system only if:
            (1)  the person is operating the alarm system without a
required permit; or
            (2)  the person has not paid a false alarm fee assessed
under this section.
      (c)  The municipality shall notify the permit holder of an
alarm system by certified mail of the termination of law
enforcement response to an alarm system if law enforcement response
is terminated because the person has not paid a false alarm fee
assessed under this section.  The notice must be deposited in the
mail and have a postmark that is not later than the 10th day before
the date the termination is to take effect.  <A penalty or fee
imposed for a false alarm must be established by ordinance based on
the type and level of emergency response provided.  This fee may
not exceed $50 in the case of the category of burglar alarms.  The
penalty or fee for a false alarm may not exceed the actual expenses
incurred for the response.>
      SECTION 5.  Sections 237.002(b), (c), (d), and (e), Local
Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
      (b)  <A county may not impose a penalty or fee for the
signaling of a false alarm by an alarm system unless five other
false alarms have occurred within the preceding 12-month period.>
      <(c)  A penalty or fee imposed for a false alarm must be
established by rule based on the type and level of emergency
response provided.  The fee for more than five false alarms shall
not exceed $75 per false alarm above the number of free responses.
If there are more than nine false alarms in a one-year period, the
alarm system permit may be revoked.>
      <(d)>  Notwithstanding the other provisions of this section,
the owner or lessee of premises on which an alarm system is
installed may be charged the full costs incurred by the county when
the owner or lessee or the agent or employee of the owner or lessee
intentionally or knowingly activates the alarm system for any
reason other than an emergency or threat of an emergency of the
kind for which the alarm system was designed to give notice.
      (c) <(e)>  The sheriff or the sheriff's representative shall
provide a copy of the rules to a person and assess a fee for the
copy in accordance with Chapter 552, Government Code.
      SECTION 6.  Chapter 237, Local Government Code, is amended by
adding Section 237.0021 to read as follows:
      Sec. 237.0021.  PENALTY LIMITATIONS.  (a)  During any
preceding 12-month period:
            (1)  a county may not impose a fee for the signaling of
a false alarm unless five other false alarms have occurred; and
            (2)  a county may impose a fee of not more than $100
each for the signaling of a false alarm after the fifth false
alarm.
      (b)  A county may terminate its law enforcement response to
an alarm system only if:
            (1)  the person is operating the alarm system without a
required permit; or
            (2)  the person has not paid a false alarm fee assessed
under this section.
      (c)  The county shall notify the permit holder of an alarm
system by certified mail of the termination of law enforcement
response to an alarm system if law enforcement response is
terminated because the person has not paid a false alarm fee
assessed under this section.  The notice must be deposited in the
mail and have a postmark that is not later than the 10th day before
the date the termination is to take effect.
      SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the
crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.