1-1 By: Harris S.B. No. 1180
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 10, 1999; March 11, 1999, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
1-4 April 19, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 5,
1-5 Nays 0; April 19, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to certain duties of county bail bond boards.
1-9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10 SECTION 1. Subsection (f), Section 5, Chapter 550, Acts of
1-11 the 63rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1973 (Article 2372p-3,
1-12 Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
1-13 (f) In addition to the powers and duties given to the County
1-14 Bail Bond Board by this Act, the board has the following powers and
1-15 duties:
1-16 (1) To exercise any powers incidental or necessary to
1-17 the administration of this Act, to supervise and regulate all
1-18 phases of the bonding business and enforce this Act within the
1-19 county, and to prescribe and post any rules necessary to implement
1-20 this Act;
1-21 (2) To conduct hearings and investigations and make
1-22 determinations respecting the issuance, refusal, suspension, or
1-23 revocation of licenses to bondsmen within the provisions of this
1-24 Act and to issue licenses to those applicants who qualify under the
1-25 terms of this Act, to refuse licenses to those applicants who do
1-26 not qualify, and to suspend or revoke the licenses of licensees who
1-27 commit violations under this Act or the rules prescribed by the
1-28 board under this Act;
1-29 (3) To require applicants and licensees to appear
1-30 before the board, and to administer oaths, examine witnesses, and
1-31 compel the production of pertinent books, accounts, records,
1-32 documents, and testimony by the licensee or applicant in its
1-33 hearings;
1-34 (4) To cause records and transcripts to be made of all
1-35 its proceedings;
1-36 (5) To maintain records and minutes and otherwise
1-37 operate its office affairs;
1-38 (6) To employ such employees to assist the board in
1-39 its functions as necessary; and
1-40 (7) To furnish and post in each court in the county
1-41 having jurisdiction of criminal cases and each local official
1-42 responsible for the detention of prisoners in the county with
1-43 current lists of the bondsmen and their agents licensed and
1-44 approved in the county and to notify immediately each court and
1-45 local official when a bondsman's license is suspended or revoked or
1-46 an agent's authority is rescinded[; and]
1-47 [(8) To file reports and furnish information on the
1-48 operation of the bonding business in the county at the request of
1-49 the Texas Judicial Council which shall report annually to the
1-50 governor and the legislature on or before December 1 of each year
1-51 on the operation of the bonding business in the state].
1-52 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
1-53 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-54 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-55 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-56 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-57 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-58 passage, and it is so enacted.
1-59 * * * * *