BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 3433 |
By: Fletcher |
Homeland Security & Public Safety |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Under the Private Security Act, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Private Security Board are responsible for the licensing and regulation of individuals and companies that provide private security services, including security guards, personal protection officers, private investigators, locksmiths, and individuals who sell, install, or monitor alarm systems. C.S.H.B. 3433 seeks to make various clarifying changes to the Private Security Act to address drafting issues resulting from recent sunset legislation, to provide express authority for certain investigative, licensing, and disciplinary actions, to provide uniformity in licensing determinations and administrative hearings, and to establish a criminal offense for failure to maintain required insurance coverage.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Private Security Board in SECTIONS 3, 8, and 13 of this bill.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 3433 amends the Occupations Code to specify that "alarm system," for purposes of the Private Security Act, does not include a telephone entry system, an operator for opening or closing a residential or commercial gate or door, or an accessory used only to activate a gate or door, if the system, operator, or accessory is not monitored by security personnel or a security service and does not send a signal to which law enforcement or emergency services respond, rather than if the system, operator, or accessory is not connected to a computer or data processor that records or archives the voice, visual image, or identifying information of the user. The bill requires an applicant for a license under the Private Security Act to submit only one set, rather than two classifiable sets, of fingerprints for each applicable person and requires the fingerprints to be submitted in a manner approved by the Texas Private Security Board. The bill authorizes the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to return an application as incomplete if the applicant submits payment of a fee that is returned for insufficient funds and the applicant has received notice and an opportunity to provide payment in full.
C.S.H.B. 3433 expands the offenses with which an applicant, to qualify for a license, certificate of registration, endorsement, or security officer commission, or the applicant's manager must not be charged at the time of application to include a Class B misdemeanor offense and adds the condition that those offenses are determined to be disqualifying by Texas Private Security Board rule. The bill requires a license holder's manager to immediately cease all managerial actions, rather than be terminated, on the effective date of any summary action taken against the manager and makes any period of authorized temporary operation of the license holder's business begin on the effective date of the summary action, rather than the date of the termination.
C.S.H.B. 3433 requires an applicant for a license or license holder under the Private Security Act to provide as part of the application and to maintain a certificate of insurance or other documentary evidence of insurance sufficient to cover all of the applicant's or license holder's business activities related to private security. The bill requires an applicant for the renewal of a license, registration, commission, letter of approval, permit, endorsement, or certification issued by the Texas Private Security Board to submit as part of the application fingerprints in the manner prescribed by the board, rather than two complete sets of fingerprints on forms prescribed by the board.
C.S.H.B. 3433 requires an employee or agent of DPS or the Texas Private Security Board who enters the place of business of a person regulated under the Private Security Act for the purpose of conducting an inspection or audit to notify the manager or owner of the business of the presence of the person conducting the inspection or audit and present the manager or owner with credentials that identify the person conducting the inspection or audit as an employee or agent of DPS or the board. The bill expressly does not prohibit DPS or the board from conducting an undercover investigation or covert audit in order to determine compliance with the act or a rule adopted under the act. The bill includes a manager or majority owner of a license holder among the persons against whom DPS must take disciplinary action on proof that the person engaged in certain conduct and includes failing to qualify a new manager within the time required by board rule following the termination of a manager among the conduct resulting in that required disciplinary action. The bill authorizes DPS to revoke a license, certificate, registration, endorsement, or commission if the person holding that credential under the Private Security Act submits payment of a fee or penalty that is returned for insufficient funds and the person has received notice and an opportunity to provide payment in full.
C.S.H.B. 3433 requires DPS to deny, suspend, or revoke an application for or a license, certificate of registration, endorsement, or security officer commission, as applicable, on receiving written notice from a law enforcement agency that the applicant or authorization holder has been charged with or convicted of an offense that, under Texas Private Security Board rule adopted in compliance with criminal conviction consequences, makes the person ineligible for that authorization. The bill makes it a Class A misdemeanor offense for a person required to hold insurance under Private Security Act licensing provisions to knowingly fail to provide and maintain a certificate of insurance or other documentary evidence of insurance sufficient to cover all of the business activities of the person related to private security and establishes that a person is presumed to have acted knowingly if the person received reasonable notice and an opportunity to provide or maintain the insurance documentation and failed to do so. The bill repeals a provision making an applicant ineligible for a license, certificate of registration, endorsement, or security officer commission if the applicant has charges pending for or has been convicted within a specified period of a Class B misdemeanor offense determined by the Texas Private Security Board to be disqualifying and a provision clarifying the characteristics that classify an offense as such a Class B misdemeanor for that purpose.
C.S.H.B. 3433 amends the Health and Safety Code to require the medical advisory board to assist DPS in determining whether an applicant for or holder of a commission as a security officer is capable of exercising sound judgment with respect to the proper use and storage of a handgun.
C.S.H.B. 3433 requires the Texas Private Security Board, not later than January 1, 2014, to adopt rules to implement the bill's provisions. The bill's provisions apply only to an application for an original or renewal license, registration, or endorsement submitted to the board on or after January 1, 2014.
C.S.H.B. 3433 repeals Sections 1702.113(b) and (c), Occupations Code.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
EFFECTIVE DATE
On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2013.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 3433 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and highlighted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|