By Longoria H.B. No. 246
75R979 BEM-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the exemption of certain peace officers from provisions
1-3 of 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 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 is [has full-time employment as] a
1-21 peace officer[,] who receives compensation for private employment
1-22 on an individual or an independent contractor basis as a patrolman,
1-23 guard, or watchman if the officer:
1-24 (A) is employed in an employee-employer
2-1 relationship or employed on an individual contractual basis; and
2-2 (B) is not in the employ of another peace
2-3 officer[;]
2-4 [(C) is not a reserve peace officer; and]
2-5 [(D) works as a peace officer on the average of
2-6 at least 32 hours a week, is compensated by the state or a
2-7 political subdivision of the state at the rate of the minimum wage
2-8 or higher, and is entitled to all employee benefits offered to a
2-9 peace officer by the state or political subdivision];
2-10 (4) a person engaged exclusively in the business of
2-11 obtaining and furnishing information for purposes of credit
2-12 worthiness or collecting debts or ascertaining the financial
2-13 responsibility of applicants for property insurance and for
2-14 indemnity or surety bonds, with respect to persons, firms, and
2-15 corporations;
2-16 (5) an attorney-at-law in performing his duties;
2-17 (6) admitted insurers, insurance adjusters, agents,
2-18 and insurance brokers licensed by the State, performing duties in
2-19 connection with insurance transacted by them;
2-20 (7) a person who engages exclusively in the business
2-21 of repossessing property that is secured by a mortgage or other
2-22 security interest;
2-23 (8) a locksmith who does not install or service
2-24 detection devices, does not conduct investigations, and is not a
2-25 security service contractor;
2-26 (9) a person who owns and installs burglar detection
2-27 or alarm devices on his own property or, if he does not charge for
3-1 the device or its installation, installs it for the protection of
3-2 his personal property located on another's property, and does not
3-3 install the devices as a normal business practice on the property
3-4 of another;
3-5 (10) an employee of a cattle association who is
3-6 engaged in inspection of brands of livestock under the authority
3-7 granted to that cattle association by the Packers and Stockyards
3-8 Division of the United States Department of Agriculture;
3-9 (11) the provisions of this Act shall not apply to
3-10 common carriers by rail engaged in interstate commerce and
3-11 regulated by state and federal authorities and transporting
3-12 commodities essential to the national defense and to the general
3-13 welfare and safety of the community;
3-14 (12) a registered professional engineer practicing in
3-15 accordance with the provisions of the Texas Engineering Practice
3-16 Act that does not install or service detection devices, does not
3-17 conduct nonengineering investigations, is performing forensic
3-18 engineering studies, and is not a security services contractor;
3-19 (13) a person whose sale of burglar alarm signal
3-20 devices, burglary alarms, television cameras, still cameras, or
3-21 other electrical, mechanical, or electronic devices used for
3-22 preventing or detecting burglary, theft, shoplifting, pilferage, or
3-23 other losses is exclusively over-the-counter or by mail order;
3-24 (14) a person who holds a license or other form of
3-25 permission issued by an incorporated city or town to practice as an
3-26 electrician and who installs fire or smoke detectors in no building
3-27 other than a single family or multifamily residence;
4-1 (15) a person or organization in the business of
4-2 building construction that installs electrical wiring and devices
4-3 that may include in part the installation of a burglar alarm or
4-4 detection device if:
4-5 (A) the person or organization is a party to a
4-6 contract that provides that the installation will be performed
4-7 under the direct supervision of and inspected and certified by a
4-8 person or organization licensed to install and certify such an
4-9 alarm or detection device and that the licensee assumes full
4-10 responsibility for the installation of the alarm or detection
4-11 device; and
4-12 (B) the person or organization does not service
4-13 or maintain burglar alarms or detection devices;
4-14 (16) a reserve peace officer while the reserve officer
4-15 is performing guard, patrolman, or watchman duties for a county and
4-16 is being compensated solely by that county;
4-17 (17) response to a burglar alarm or detection device
4-18 by a law enforcement agency or by a law enforcement officer acting
4-19 in an official capacity;
4-20 (18) a person who, by education, experience, or
4-21 background has specialized expertise or knowledge such as that
4-22 which would qualify or tend to qualify such person as an expert
4-23 witness, authorized to render opinions in proceedings conducted in
4-24 a court, administrative agency, or governing body of this state or
4-25 of the United States, in accordance with applicable rules and
4-26 regulations and who does not perform any other service for which a
4-27 license is required by provisions of this Act;
5-1 (19) an officer, employee, or agent of a common
5-2 carrier, as defined by Section 153(h), Communications Act of 1934
5-3 (47 U.S.C.A. Sec. 151 et seq.), while protecting the carrier or a
5-4 user of the carrier's long-distance services from a fraudulent,
5-5 unlawful, or abusive use of those long-distance services;
5-6 (20) a person who sells or installs automobile burglar
5-7 alarm devices and that does not perform any other act that requires
5-8 a license under this Act;
5-9 (21) a manufacturer, or a manufacturer's authorized
5-10 distributor, who sells to the holder of a license under this Act
5-11 equipment used in the operations for which the holder is required
5-12 to be licensed;
5-13 (22) a person employed as a noncommissioned security
5-14 officer by a political subdivision of this state;
5-15 (23) a person whose activities are regulated under
5-16 Article 5.43-2, Insurance Code, except to the extent that those
5-17 activities are specifically regulated under this Act;
5-18 (24) a landman performing activities in the course and
5-19 scope of the landman's business;
5-20 (25) a hospital or a wholly owned subsidiary or
5-21 affiliate of a hospital that provides medical alert services for
5-22 persons who are sick or disabled, if the hospital, subsidiary, or
5-23 affiliate is licensed under Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code,
5-24 and the hospital does not perform any other service that requires a
5-25 license under this Act;
5-26 (26) a charitable, nonprofit organization that
5-27 provides medical alert services for persons who are sick or
6-1 disabled, if the organization:
6-2 (A) is exempt from taxation under Section
6-3 501(c)(3), Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
6-4 (B) has its monitoring services provided by a
6-5 licensed person or hospital or a wholly owned subsidiary or
6-6 affiliate of a hospital licensed under Chapter 241, Health and
6-7 Safety Code; and
6-8 (C) does not perform any other service that
6-9 requires a license under this Act;
6-10 (27) a person engaged in the business of electronic
6-11 monitoring of a person as a condition of that person's probation,
6-12 parole, mandatory supervision, or release on bail, if the person
6-13 does not perform any other service that requires a license under
6-14 this Act;
6-15 (28) a nonprofit business or civic organization that:
6-16 (A) employs one or more peace officers meeting
6-17 the qualifications of Subdivision (3) of this subsection as
6-18 patrolmen, guards, or watchmen;
6-19 (B) provides the services of these peace
6-20 officers only to:
6-21 (i) its members; or
6-22 (ii) if the organization does not have
6-23 members, the members of the communities served by the organization
6-24 as described in its articles of incorporation or other
6-25 organizational documents;
6-26 (C) devotes the net receipts from all charges
6-27 for the services exclusively to the cost of providing the services
7-1 or to the costs of other services for the enhancement of the
7-2 security or safety of:
7-3 (i) its members; or
7-4 (ii) if the organization does not have
7-5 members, the members of the communities served by the organization
7-6 as described in its articles of incorporation or other
7-7 organizational documents; and
7-8 (D) does not perform any other service that
7-9 requires a license under this Act;
7-10 (29) a charitable, nonprofit organization that
7-11 maintains a system of records to aid in the location of missing
7-12 children if the organization:
7-13 (A) is exempt from federal taxation under
7-14 Section 501(c)(3), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and its
7-15 subsequent amendments;
7-16 (B) exclusively provides services related to
7-17 locating missing children; and
7-18 (C) does not perform any other service that
7-19 requires a license under this Act; or
7-20 (30) a person engaged in the business of psychological
7-21 testing or other testing and interviewing services (to include but
7-22 not limited to attitudes, honesty, intelligence, personality, and
7-23 skills) for preemployment purposes, if the person does not perform
7-24 any other service that requires a license under this Act.
7-25 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
7-26 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
7-27 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
8-1 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
8-2 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
8-3 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.