Honorable Carol Alvarado, Chair, House Committee on Urban Affairs
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2162 by Simmons (Relating to municipal regulation of the use of alarm systems; authorizing a municipal fee.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Local Government Code to permit a municipality to impose a permit fee of up to $250 a year for alarm system locations. The bill would permit a municipality to refuse to respond to a location if the location has had more than eight other false alarms during the preceding 12 months. The bill provides penalties for an alarm systems monitor that reports a false alarm if the alarm systems monitor has made three other false alarms within the last year. The bill would prohibit a municipality from imposing a penalty under certain conditions. Under the provisions of the bill, a municipality that does not respond to an alarm system is not liable for damages that may occur relating to the cause of the alarm system signal. A property owner or an agent of the property owner may elect to exclude a city from receiving an alarm signal located on the owner's property.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.