78R4444 RCJ-D

By:  Gutierrez                                                    H.B. No. 2000



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to persons eligible for a pawnshop license.                          
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 371.052, Finance Code, is amended by 
amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsection (d) to read 
as follows:
	(a)  To be eligible for a pawnshop license, an applicant:               
		(1)  must:                                                             
			(A) [(1)]  be of good moral character;               
			(B) [(2)]  meet the net assets requirement of 
Section 371.072; and
			(C) [(3)]  show that:                                
				(i) [(A)]  the pawnshop will be operated 
lawfully and fairly under this chapter; and
				(ii) [(B)]  the applicant or the applicant's 
owners and managers have the financial responsibility, experience, 
character, and general fitness to command the confidence of the 
public in the pawnshop's operations; and
		(2)  may not be a publicly traded corporation, or be 
directly or indirectly owned or controlled by a publicly traded 
corporation, that is registered with the Securities and Exchange 
Commission unless the corporation has only one class of common 
stock and that class of common stock has voting rights.
	(b)  Subsection (a)(1)(A) applies to each:                              
		(1)  operator and legal or beneficial owner if the 
applicant is a business entity;  and
		(2)  officer, owner of at least five percent of the 
shares outstanding, and director if the applicant is a corporation.
	(d)  In this section, "control" means the possession, 
directly or indirectly, of the power to direct or cause the 
direction of the management and policies of a person, whether 
through the ownership of voting securities, by contract, or 
otherwise.
	SECTION 2.  Section 371.064, Finance Code, is amended by 
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as 
follows:
	(a)  Not later than December 1, a pawnbroker shall pay to the 
commissioner for each license held an annual fee in an amount 
determined as provided by Section 14.107 for the year beginning the 
next January 1.  At the time a pawnbroker pays the annual fee for 
each license, the pawnbroker must provide proof to the commissioner 
that the pawnbroker meets the eligibility requirements under 
Section 371.052 for each license held.
	(c)  If the pawnbroker fails to provide proof to the 
commissioner that the pawnbroker meets the eligibility 
requirements as required by Subsection (a) before the 16th day 
after the date on which written notice of failure to provide proof 
has been given to the pawnbroker by the commissioner or if the 
commissioner, after reviewing the information submitted in 
compliance with the proof requirement of Subsection (a), determines 
the pawnbroker would be ineligible for the issuance of a license and 
the commissioner gives written notice of this determination to the 
pawnbroker, the license expires on the later of:
		(1)  that day; or                                                      
		(2)  December 31 of the last year in which the 
pawnbroker was eligible for the license.
	SECTION 3.  (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.                       
	(b)  The changes in law made by Section 371.052, Finance 
Code, as amended by this Act, apply to an application for a pawnshop 
license made on or after the effective date of this Act.
	(c)  The changes in law made by Section 371.064, Finance 
Code, as amended by this Act, apply to a holder of a pawnshop 
license regardless of whether the original license was issued to 
the holder before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.