BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 846

By: Martinez, "Mando"

Urban Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Under current law, fire protection personnel, emergency medical services personnel, and certain law enforcement officers must complete and submit a renewal application to renew a license. Often, the application requires information that was submitted on prior applications. Depending on the renewal applicant's length of service, the applicant may have to provide information covering a period of ten, fifteen, or twenty years. Since the information has already been provided to the state, it is an undue burden on these renewal applicants, as well as a waste of state resources and tax dollars, to require such an applicant to continually resubmit information that has already been submitted.

H.B. 846 prohibits the requirements and procedures of the applicable licensing agencies from requiring an applicant who has already provided information to the state to resubmit the same information if the information is unchanged since the last application. Additionally, an applicant has to provide only information relevant to the period occurring since the date of the applicant's last application for licensure or certification or for license or certificate renewal, as applicable. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 846 amends the Government Code to prohibit the requirements and procedures adopted by the Texas Commission on Fire Protection for the renewal of a certificate issued to fire protection personnel from requiring an applicant to provide unchanged information already included in one or more of the applicant's previous applications for certification or for certificate renewal filed with the commission.  The bill permits the requirements and procedures to require the applicant to provide only information relevant to the period occurring since the date of the applicant's last application for certification or for certificate renewal, as applicable, including information relevant to any new requirement applicable to the certificate held by the applicant.

H.B. 846 amends the Health and Safety Code to prohibit the requirements and procedures adopted by the Department of State Health Services for the renewal of a certificate to practice as emergency medical services personnel from requiring an applicant to provide unchanged information already included in one or more of the applicant's previous applications for certification or for certificate renewal filed with the department.  The bill permits the requirements and procedures to require the applicant to provide only information relevant to the period occurring since the date of the applicant's last application for certification or for certificate renewal, as applicable, including information relevant to any new requirement applicable to the certificate held by the applicant.

H.B. 846 amends the Occupations Code to prohibit the requirements and procedures adopted by the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education for the renewal of a license issued to a peace officer, reserve law enforcement officer, county jailer, or public security officer from requiring an applicant to provide unchanged information already included in one or more of the applicant's previous applications for licensure or for license renewal filed with the commission.  The bill permits the requirements and procedures to require the applicant to provide only information relevant to the period occurring since the date of the applicant's last application for licensure or for license renewal, as applicable, including information relevant to any new requirement applicable to the license held by the applicant.

H.B. 846 makes its provisions applicable to a license or certificate renewed on or after January 1, 2011.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2009.