By: Harris S.B. No. 1180
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to certain duties of county bail bond boards.
1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-3 SECTION 1. Subsection (f), Section 5, Chapter 550, Acts of
1-4 the 63rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article 2372p-3,
1-5 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-6 (f) In addition to the powers and duties given to the County
1-7 Bail Bond Board by this Act, the board has the following powers and
1-8 duties:
1-9 (1) To exercise any powers incidental or necessary to
1-10 the administration of this Act, to supervise and regulate all
1-11 phases of the bonding business and enforce this Act within the
1-12 county, and to prescribe and post any rules necessary to implement
1-13 this Act;
1-14 (2) To conduct hearings and investigations and make
1-15 determinations respecting the issuance, refusal, suspension, or
1-16 revocation of licenses to bondsmen within the provisions of this
1-17 Act and to issue licenses to those applicants who qualify under the
1-18 terms of this Act, to refuse licenses to those applicants who do
1-19 not qualify, and to suspend or revoke the licenses of licensees who
1-20 commit violations under this Act or the rules prescribed by the
1-21 board under this Act;
1-22 (3) To require applicants and licensees to appear
1-23 before the board, and to administer oaths, examine witnesses, and
1-24 compel the production of pertinent books, accounts, records,
2-1 documents, and testimony by the licensee or applicant in its
2-2 hearings;
2-3 (4) To cause records and transcripts to be made of all
2-4 its proceedings;
2-5 (5) To maintain records and minutes and otherwise
2-6 operate its office affairs;
2-7 (6) To employ such employees to assist the board in
2-8 its functions as necessary; and
2-9 (7) To furnish and post in each court in the county
2-10 having jurisdiction of criminal cases and each local official
2-11 responsible for the detention of prisoners in the county with
2-12 current lists of the bondsmen and their agents licensed and
2-13 approved in the county and to notify immediately each court and
2-14 local official when a bondsman's license is suspended or revoked or
2-15 an agent's authority is rescinded[; and]
2-16 [(8) To file reports and furnish information on the
2-17 operation of the bonding business in the county at the request of
2-18 the Texas Judicial Council which shall report annually to the
2-19 governor and the legislature on or before December 1 of each year
2-20 on the operation of the bonding business in the state].
2-21 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-22 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-23 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-24 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-25 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-26 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-1 passage, and it is so enacted.