HBA-KMH H.B. 3457 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3457
By: Hinojosa
Criminal Jurisprudence
3/21/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law requires bail bondsmen to be licensed and regulated by bail
bond boards, but only in counties with a population of at least 110,000
people. Bail bondsmen are otherwise largely unregulated in the 240 counties
with a population under 110,000 people. H.B. 3457 provides regulations for
the licensing of bail bondsmen based on the number of years the license has
been retained. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 8, Chapter 550, Acts of the 63rd Legislature,
Regular Session, 1973 (Article 2372p-3, V.T.C.S.)  by amending Subsection
(a) and adding Subsection (d), as follows: 

(a) Limits application of this section to licenses under the Act which have
been issued for less than six consecutive years or that have been
suspended, except as provided by Subsection (d) of this section. 

(d) Authorizes a person who applies for renewal of a license that has been
held by the person for at least six consecutive years without having been
suspended or revoked under this Act and who complies with the requirements
of this Act to renew the license for a period of 48 months from the date of
expiration.  Allows renewal under this subsection only if the board knows
of no legal reason why the application should not be renewed.  Authorizes a
license renewed under this subsection to be renewed subsequently each 48
months in a similar manner. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.
                      Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.