HBA-ALS C.S.H.B. 3704 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 3704
By: Shields
State Affairs
4/15/1999
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, there is no requirement that a bondsman's name, address, and
telephone number appear on a payment or performance bond.  As a result, it
may be difficult to locate the bondsman to obtain payment on a bond.
C.S.H.B. 3704 requires that performance and payment bonds clearly display
the surety's name and the surety contact person's name, mailing address,
physical address, area code, and telephone number to whom a notice of claim
should be given.   

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 2253.021, Government Code, by adding Subsection
(f), to require a bond under this chapter clearly display on its face the
name of the surety and the name, mailing, address, physical address, area
code, and telephone number of the surety contact person to whom a notice of
claim should be given.   

SECTION 2. Amends Section 2253.024(a), Government Code, to make conforming
and nonsubstantive changes. 

SECTION 3. Amends Section 2253.026(a), Government Code, to make conforming
and nonsubstantive changes.    

SECTION 4.Effective date: September 1, 1999. 

SECTION 5.Emergency clause.  

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 1 (Section 2253.021,
Government Code) in proposed Subsection (f) to require that a bond clearly
display on its face the name of the surety issuer and its contact person's
name, mailing address, physical address, area code, and telephone number to
whom a notice of claim should be given, rather than merely the name,
address, and telephone number of the bondsman. 

The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 2 (Section 2253.024) by
making nonsubstantive and conforming changes in Subsection (a).   

The substitute modifies the original in SECTION 3 (Section 2253.026) to
delete proposed changes to Subsection (b) which required a bond to clearly
display on its face the name, address, and telephone number of the bondsman
and made nonsubstantive changes. The substitute instead makes changes to
Subsection (a) to require a governmental entity to furnish to a person who
applies for the information and submits a specified affidavit the name of
the surety issuer and its contact person's name, address, area code, and
telephone number to whom a notice of claim should be given. 

The substitute modifies the original by amending Sections 2253.021,
2253.024, and 2253.026,  Government Code, rather than Sections 2553.021,
2553.024, and 2553.026.  This reflects a correction to conform with
existing statutes.