By Driver H.B. No. 2800
76R5841 CLG-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to requiring a financial institution to maintain certain
1-3 information from a business account holder.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subtitle Z, Title 3, Finance Code, is amended by
1-6 adding Chapter 277 to read as follows:
1-7 CHAPTER 277. BUSINESS CHECKING ACCOUNTS
1-8 Sec. 277.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-9 (1) "Business" means a legal entity, including a
1-10 corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship, that is formed
1-11 for the purpose of making a profit.
1-12 (2) "Business checking account" means an account at a
1-13 financial institution from which withdrawals may be made by a
1-14 business by check or draft. The term includes a money market
1-15 account, a negotiable order of withdrawal account, or other account
1-16 at a financial institution in which the account holder has check
1-17 writing privileges.
1-18 (3) "Financial institution" means a state or national
1-19 bank, state or federal savings and loan association, state or
1-20 federal savings bank, or state or federal credit union doing
1-21 business in this state.
1-22 Sec. 277.002. ACCOUNT INFORMATION REQUIRED. (a) A
1-23 financial institution shall require, as a condition of opening or
1-24 maintaining a business checking account, that the applicant or
2-1 account holder provide:
2-2 (1) if the business is a sole proprietorship:
2-3 (A) the name of the business owner;
2-4 (B) the physical address of the business;
2-5 (C) the home address of the business owner; and
2-6 (D) the driver's license number of the business
2-7 owner or the personal identification card number issued to the
2-8 business owner by the Department of Public Safety; or
2-9 (2) if the business is a corporation or other legal
2-10 entity, a copy of the business's certificate of incorporation or a
2-11 comparable document and an assumed name certificate, if any.
2-12 (b) The financial institution shall request that the account
2-13 holder inform the institution at least annually of any changes in
2-14 the information the institution is required to obtain under
2-15 Subsection (a).
2-16 Sec. 277.003. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION. (a) A financial
2-17 institution may not unreasonably withhold the information described
2-18 by Section 277.002 in response to a written request for the
2-19 information that:
2-20 (1) is made by a person to whom the financial
2-21 institution has returned a dishonored check or draft that was
2-22 issued to the person by a business that maintains a business
2-23 checking account; and
2-24 (2) includes a photocopy of the dishonored check or
2-25 draft.
2-26 (b) A financial institution that assesses a reasonable
2-27 research fee in the regular course of business may assess the fee
3-1 on a person who requests information under this section.
3-2 (c) A financial institution is not liable to an account
3-3 holder or other person for the disclosure of information under this
3-4 section.
3-5 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
3-6 applies to a business checking account held by a financial
3-7 institution on or after that date, regardless of the date on which
3-8 the account was opened.
3-9 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
3-10 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-11 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-12 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-13 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.