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


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 3457
By: Hinojosa
Criminal Jurisprudence
4/26/1999
Committee Report (Substituted)



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.  C.S.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 county bail
bond board (board) knows of no legal reason why the application should not
be renewed and if the board determines that the applicant has submitted an
annual financial report to each board before the anniversary date of the
issuance of the applicant's license.  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.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 3457 modifies the original in SECTION 1 (proposed Section 8(d),
Article 2372p-3, V.T.C.S.)  by authorizing the board to renew a license
under this section only if, in addition to other conditions set forth, the
person applying for renewal has submitted an annual financial report to
each county bail bond board before the anniversary date of the issuance of
the applicant's license.