Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
By Carter H.B. No. 2130
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the sale of alarm products or services and burglary
1-3 detection devices.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 3A, 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 Sec. 3A. Seller's certificate. (a) Except as provided by
1-9 Subsection (c) of this section, the provisions of this Act do not
1-10 apply to a person who sells detection devices or other devices for
1-11 preventing or detecting burglary [in a person's residence] if:
1-12 (1) the person does not install, service, or maintain
1-13 detection devices;
1-14 (2) the person holds a valid seller's certificate
1-15 issued by the board;
1-16 (3) the person has, as a precedent for obtaining a
1-17 seller's certificate, submitted to the board an application for a
1-18 seller's certificate which shall include the person's full name,
1-19 residence telephone number, date and place of birth, and Social
1-20 Security number and two sets of classifiable fingerprints;
1-21 (4) the person has paid to the board a seller's
1-22 certificate fee as established by the board, but not to exceed $25,
1-23 which certificate shall be valid for a period of two years;
1-24 (5) there is filed with the board, either by the
2-1 manufacturer, distributor or sellers of such devices, a certificate
2-2 evidencing insurance for liability for bodily injury or property
2-3 damage arising from faulty or defective products in an amount not
2-4 less than $1 million combined single limit, provided that such
2-5 policy of insurance need not relate exclusively to burglary
2-6 devices;
2-7 (6) there has been filed with the board, either by the
2-8 manufacturer, distributor, or sellers of such devices, a surety
2-9 bond executed by a surety company authorized to do business in this
2-10 state in the sum of $10,000 in favor of the State of Texas, and any
2-11 customer purchasing such devices in his home who does not receive
2-12 delivery of the devices in accordance with the contract or
2-13 agreement may bring an action against the bond to recover the down
2-14 payment or purchase price actually paid; and
2-15 (7) the person is not employed by a security services
2-16 contractor.
2-17 (b) The board shall approve an application for a seller's
2-18 certificate and shall issue such certificate to an applicant unless
2-19 the background check of the applicant discloses a felony conviction
2-20 other than that for which a full pardon has been granted, or if any
2-21 information provided in the application is false.
2-22 (c) It shall be unlawful and punishable as provided in
2-23 Section 44 of this Act for any person who holds a current seller's
2-24 certificate to install, service, monitor, or respond to detection
2-25 devices used to prevent or detect burglary or other losses of that
2-26 type.
2-27 (d) Conviction for a violation of this section by a person
2-28 subject to this section who has obtained a certificate constitutes
2-29 a ground for the suspension or revocation of the person's seller's
2-30 exemption certificate. The board may suspend or revoke the
3-1 certificate after a hearing conducted in the manner provided by
3-2 Section 11B of this Act.
3-3 SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect September
3-4 1, 1997.
3-5 SECTION 3. EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation
3-6 and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-7 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-8 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-9 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.