By:  Armbrister                              S.B. No. 1273

         97S0734/1                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

                                       AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the sale of alarm products or services and burglary

 1-2     detection devices.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 3A, Private Investigators

 1-5     and Private Security Agencies Act (Article 4413 (29bb), Vernon's

 1-6     Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:

 1-7           (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (c) of this section,

 1-8     the provisions of this Act do not apply to a person who sells

 1-9     detection devices or other devices for preventing or detecting

1-10     burglary [in a person's residence] if:

1-11                 (1)  the person does not install, service, or maintain

1-12     detection devices;

1-13                 (2)  the person holds a valid seller's certificate

1-14     issued by the board;

1-15                 (3)  the person has, as a precedent for obtaining a

1-16     seller's certificate, submitted to the board an application for a

1-17     seller's certificate which shall include the person's full name,

1-18     residence telephone number, date and place of birth, and Social

1-19     Security number and two sets of classifiable fingerprints;

1-20                 (4)  the person has paid to the board a seller's

1-21     certificate fee as established by the board, but not to exceed $25,

1-22     which certificate shall be valid for a period of two years;

1-23                 (5)  there is filed with the board, either by the

 2-1     manufacturer, distributor, or sellers of such devices, a

 2-2     certificate evidencing insurance for liability for bodily injury or

 2-3     property damage arising from faulty or defective products in an

 2-4     amount not less than $1 million combined single limit, provided

 2-5     that such policy of insurance need not relate exclusively to

 2-6     burglary 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           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-18           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-19     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-20     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-21     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-22     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.