Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
By Lewis of Orange H.B. No. 2999
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to an exemption from regulation under the Private
1-3 Investigators and Private Security Agencies Act for certain peace
1-4 officers.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 3, Private Investigators
1-7 and Private Security Agencies Act (Article 4413(29bb), Vernon's
1-8 Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-9 (a) This Act does not apply to:
1-10 (1) a person employed exclusively and regularly by one
1-11 employer in connection with the affairs of an employer only and
1-12 where there exists an employer-employee relationship; provided,
1-13 however, any person who shall carry a firearm in the course of his
1-14 employment shall be required to obtain a private security officer
1-15 commission under the provisions of this Act;
1-16 (2) except as provided by Subsection (d) of this
1-17 Section, an officer or employee of the United States of America, or
1-18 of this State or political subdivision of either, while the
1-19 employee or officer is engaged in the performance of official
1-20 duties;
1-21 (3) a person who has full-time employment as a peace
1-22 officer, who receives compensation for private employment on an
1-23 individual or an independent contractor basis as a patrolman,
1-24 guard, [or] watchman, or extra job coordinator if the officer:
2-1 (A) is employed in an employee-employer
2-2 relationship or employed on an individual contractual basis;
2-3 (B) is not in the employ of another peace
2-4 officer;
2-5 (C) is not a reserve peace officer; and
2-6 (D) works as a peace officer on the average of
2-7 at least 32 hours a week, is compensated by the state or a
2-8 political subdivision of the state at the rate of the minimum wage
2-9 or higher, and is entitled to all employee benefits offered to a
2-10 peace officer by the state or political subdivision;
2-11 (4) a person engaged exclusively in the business of
2-12 obtaining and furnishing information for purposes of credit
2-13 worthiness or collecting debts or ascertaining the financial
2-14 responsibility of applicants for property insurance and for
2-15 indemnity or surety bonds, with respect to persons, firms, and
2-16 corporations;
2-17 (5) an attorney-at-law in performing his duties;
2-18 (6) admitted insurers, insurance adjusters, agents,
2-19 and insurance brokers licensed by the State, performing duties in
2-20 connection with insurance transacted by them;
2-21 (7) a person who engages exclusively in the business
2-22 of repossessing property that is secured by a mortgage or other
2-23 security interest;
2-24 (8) a locksmith who does not install or service
2-25 detection devices, does not conduct investigations, and is not a
2-26 security service contractor;
2-27 (9) a person who owns and installs burglar detection
2-28 or alarm devices on his own property or, if he does not charge for
2-29 the device or its installation, installs it for the protection of
2-30 his personal property located on another's property, and does not
3-1 install the devices as a normal business practice on the property
3-2 of another;
3-3 (10) an employee of a cattle association who is
3-4 engaged in inspection of brands of livestock under the authority
3-5 granted to that cattle association by the Packers and Stockyards
3-6 Division of the United States Department of Agriculture;
3-7 (11) the provisions of this Act shall not apply to
3-8 common carriers by rail engaged in interstate commerce and
3-9 regulated by state and federal authorities and transporting
3-10 commodities essential to the national defense and to the general
3-11 welfare and safety of the community;
3-12 (12) a registered professional engineer practicing in
3-13 accordance with the provisions of the Texas Engineering Practice
3-14 Act that does not install or service detection devices, does not
3-15 conduct nonengineering investigations, is performing forensic
3-16 engineering studies, and is not a security services contractor;
3-17 (13) a person whose sale of burglar alarm signal
3-18 devices, burglary alarms, television cameras, still cameras, or
3-19 other electrical, mechanical, or electronic devices used for
3-20 preventing or detecting burglary, theft, shoplifting, pilferage, or
3-21 other losses is exclusively over-the-counter or by mail order;
3-22 (14) a person who holds a license or other form of
3-23 permission issued by an incorporated city or town to practice as an
3-24 electrician and who installs fire or smoke detectors in no building
3-25 other than a single family or multifamily residence;
3-26 (15) a person or organization in the business of
3-27 building construction that installs electrical wiring and devices
3-28 that may include in part the installation of a burglar alarm or
3-29 detection device if:
3-30 (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 an 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;
4-28 (20) a person who sells or installs automobile burglar
4-29 alarm devices and that does not perform any other act that requires
4-30 a license under this Act;
5-1 (21) a manufacturer, or a manufacturer's authorized
5-2 distributor, who sells to the holder of a license under this Act
5-3 equipment used in the operations for which the holder is required
5-4 to be licensed;
5-5 (22) a person employed as a noncommissioned security
5-6 officer by a political subdivision of this state;
5-7 (23) a person whose activities are regulated under
5-8 Article 5.43-2, Insurance Code, except to the extent that those
5-9 activities are specifically regulated under this Act;
5-10 (24) a landman performing activities in the course and
5-11 scope of the landman's business;
5-12 (25) a hospital or a wholly owned subsidiary or
5-13 affiliate of a hospital that provides medical alert services for
5-14 persons who are sick or disabled, if the hospital, subsidiary, or
5-15 affiliate is licensed under Chapter 241, Health and Safety Code,
5-16 and the hospital does not perform any other service that requires a
5-17 license under this Act;
5-18 (26) a charitable, nonprofit organization that
5-19 provides medical alert services for persons who are sick or
5-20 disabled, if the organization:
5-21 (A) is exempt from taxation under Section
5-22 501(c)(3), Internal Revenue Code of 1986;
5-23 (B) has its monitoring services provided by a
5-24 licensed person or hospital or a wholly owned subsidiary or
5-25 affiliate of a hospital licensed under Chapter 241, Health and
5-26 Safety Code; and
5-27 (C) does not perform any other service that
5-28 requires a license under this Act;
5-29 (27) a person engaged in the business of electronic
5-30 monitoring of a person as a condition of that person's probation,
6-1 parole, mandatory supervision, or release on bail, if the person
6-2 does not perform any other service that requires a license under
6-3 this Act;
6-4 (28) a nonprofit business or civic organization that:
6-5 (A) employs one or more peace officers meeting
6-6 the qualifications of Subdivision (3) of this subsection as
6-7 patrolmen, guards, or watchmen;
6-8 (B) provides the services of these peace
6-9 officers only to:
6-10 (i) its members; or
6-11 (ii) if the organization does not have
6-12 members, the members of the communities served by the organization
6-13 as described in its articles of incorporation or other
6-14 organizational documents;
6-15 (C) devotes the net receipts from all charges
6-16 for the services exclusively to the cost of providing the services
6-17 or to the costs of other services for the enhancement of the
6-18 security or safety of:
6-19 (i) its members; or
6-20 (ii) if the organization does not have
6-21 members, the members of the communities served by the organization
6-22 as described in its articles of incorporation or other
6-23 organizational documents; and
6-24 (D) does not perform any other service that
6-25 requires a license under this Act;
6-26 (29) a charitable, nonprofit organization that
6-27 maintains a system of records to aid in the location of missing
6-28 children if the organization:
6-29 (A) is exempt from federal taxation under
6-30 Section 501(c)(3), Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and its
7-1 subsequent amendments;
7-2 (B) exclusively provides services related to
7-3 locating missing children; and
7-4 (C) does not perform any other service that
7-5 requires a license under this Act; or
7-6 (30) a person engaged in the business of psychological
7-7 testing or other testing and interviewing services (to include but
7-8 not limited to attitudes, honesty, intelligence, personality, and
7-9 skills) for preemployment purposes, if the person does not perform
7-10 any other service that requires a license under this Act.
7-11 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
7-12 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
7-13 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
7-14 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
7-15 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
7-16 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.