1-1     By:  Armbrister                                       S.B. No. 1273

 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 12, 1997; March 17, 1997, read

 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;

 1-4     April 7, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 10,

 1-5     Nays 0; April 7, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the sale of alarm products or services and burglary

 1-9     detection devices.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 3A, Private Investigators

1-12     and Private Security Agencies Act (Article 4413 (29bb), Vernon's

1-13     Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:

1-14           (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (c) of this section,

1-15     the provisions of this Act do not apply to a person who sells

1-16     detection devices or other devices for preventing or detecting

1-17     burglary [in a person's residence] if:

1-18                 (1)  the person does not install, service, or maintain

1-19     detection devices;

1-20                 (2)  the person holds a valid seller's certificate

1-21     issued by the board;

1-22                 (3)  the person has, as a precedent for obtaining a

1-23     seller's certificate, submitted to the board an application for a

1-24     seller's certificate which shall include the person's full name,

1-25     residence telephone number, date and place of birth, and Social

1-26     Security number and two sets of classifiable fingerprints;

1-27                 (4)  the person has paid to the board a seller's

1-28     certificate fee as established by the board, but not to exceed $25,

1-29     which certificate shall be valid for a period of two years;

1-30                 (5)  there is filed with the board, either by the

1-31     manufacturer, distributor, or sellers of such devices, a

1-32     certificate evidencing insurance for liability for bodily injury or

1-33     property damage arising from faulty or defective products in an

1-34     amount not less than $1 million combined single limit, provided

1-35     that such policy of insurance need not relate exclusively to

1-36     burglary devices;

1-37                 (6)  there has been filed with the board, either by the

1-38     manufacturer, distributor, or sellers of such devices, a surety

1-39     bond executed by a surety company authorized to do business in this

1-40     state in the sum of $10,000 in favor of the State of Texas, and any

1-41     customer purchasing such devices in his home who does not receive

1-42     delivery of the devices in accordance with the contract or

1-43     agreement may bring an action against the bond to recover the down

1-44     payment or purchase price actually paid; and

1-45                 (7)  the person is not employed by a security services

1-46     contractor.

1-47           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-48           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-49     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-50     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-51     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-52     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

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