By: Shapiro S.B. No. 1854
Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to the fee a municipality may charge for a false alarm by
1-2 a burglar alarm system.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Section 218.007, Local Government Code, is
1-5 amended to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 218.007. Penalty Limitations. (a) A municipality may
1-7 not impose a penalty or fee for the signaling of a false alarm by a
1-8 burglar alarm system installed at a residential location unless at
1-9 least three [five] other false alarms have occurred during the
1-10 preceding 12-month period. A municipality may not impose a penalty
1-11 or fee for the signaling of a false alarm by a burglar alarm system
1-12 installed at a commercial location unless at least five other false
1-13 alarms have occurred during the preceding 12-month period.
1-14 (b) A penalty or fee imposed for a false alarm must be
1-15 established by ordinance based on the type and level of emergency
1-16 response provided. Except as provided by Subsection (c):
1-17 (1) this [This] fee may not exceed $50 in the case of
1-18 the category of burglar alarms; and[ .]
1-19 (2) the [The] penalty or fee for a false alarm may not
1-20 exceed the actual expenses incurred for the response.
1-21 (c) A municipality may increase a penalty or fee imposed for
2-1 the signaling of a false alarm at a residential location to $100
2-2 for the sixth false alarm in a 12-month period and each subsequent
2-3 false alarm in the same 12-month period.
2-4 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-9 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-10 passage, and it is so enacted.