By Keel H.B. No. 1848 77R3059 GJH-D A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to a criminal offense for contracts with bail bond 1-3 sureties to secure the appearance of certain persons. 1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter P, Chapter 1702, Occupations Code, is 1-6 amended by adding Section 1702.3863 to conform to Section 1, 1-7 Chapter 388, and Section 31, Chapter 974, Acts of the 76th 1-8 Legislature, Regular Session, 1999, and by amending that section to 1-9 read as follows: 1-10 Sec. 1702.3863. UNAUTHORIZED CONTRACT WITH BAIL BOND SURETY; 1-11 OFFENSE. (a) A person commits an offense if the person contracts 1-12 with a bail bond surety as defined by Chapter 1704 to secure the 1-13 appearance of a person who has violated Section 38.10, Penal Code, 1-14 unless the person: 1-15 (1) is a peace officer; 1-16 (2) is an individual licensed as a private 1-17 investigator or the manager of a licensed investigations company; 1-18 (3) is a commissioned security officer employed by a 1-19 licensed guard company; 1-20 (4) is a full-time employee of the bail bond surety; 1-21 or 1-22 (5) has an ownership interest in the bail bond surety. 1-23 (b) An offense under Subsection (a) is a state jail felony. 1-24 SECTION 2. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails 2-1 over another Act of the 77th Legislature, Regular Session, 2001, 2-2 relating to nonsubstantive additions and corrections in enacted 2-3 codes. 2-4 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001, and 2-5 applies only to an offense committed on or after that date. For 2-6 purposes of this section, an offense is committed before the 2-7 effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs 2-8 before the effective date. An offense committed before the 2-9 effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when 2-10 the offense was committed, and the former law is continued in 2-11 effect for that purpose.