HBA-EDN H.B. 2192 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2192 By: Hinojosa Criminal Jurisprudence 4/5/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, a person seeking a bail bond license (license) is not required to have had any experience in the bail bond business or to have completed continuing legal education in bail bond or criminal law. Having such an eligibility requirement for a license would help ensure that persons entering the bail bond business have a genuine intent of operating legally and would also decrease the number of bonds written with poor risk factors, which may be a cause of a defendant's failure to appear in court. There is also concern that counties do not have enough oversight over a license holder's solvency and that the current license application process does not differentiate enough between the process for property bondsmen and for agents who write bonds on behalf of a corporation. Finally, automatic bond-dispensing machines, as found in jails or courthouses in some states, have caused concern because they allow a defendant to purchase a bond without having a bondsman responsible for the defendant while free on bail. House Bill 2192 modifies provisions relating to licensing requirements for bail bond sureties to address these needs. 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. ANALYSIS House Bill 2192 amends the Occupations Code to modify provisions relating to licensing requirements for a bail bond surety. The bill stipulates that an individual who is acting only as an agent for a corporation holding a license for a bail bond surety (license) is not required to possess the financial resources necessary to comply with security requirements. The bill also includes as an eligibility requirement for a license that an individual, in the two years preceding the date a license application (application) is filed, must have at least one year of continuous work experience in the bail bond business and have completed at least eight hours of continuing legal education in criminal or bail bond law courses that are approved by the State Bar of Texas and that are offered by an accredited institution of higher education. The bill provides that this requirement does not apply to the issuance of an original license in a county before the first anniversary of the date a county bail bond board (board) is created in the county or to an individual who applies to operate the bail bond business of a license holder who has died if the individual is related to the decedent within the first degree by consanguinity or is the decedent's surviving spouse (Sec. 1704.152). H.B. 2192 provides that an application for a license of a corporation or an individual must include the amount of cash or the cash value of a certificate of deposit or cashier's check that the applicant must deposit with the county treasurer if the application is approved. The bill removes the requirement for a corporation to provide an irrevocable letter of credit to the sheriff and provisions prohibiting a deposit or the total value of property executed in trust from being less than $10,000 in a county with a population of less than 250,000. The bill provides that an application of an individual who has a license in another county must be accompanied by a list of each county in which a license is held and a statement, rather than a letter of good standing from the board, that as of the application date the applicant has no knowledge of any unpaid final judgments of forfeiture against the applicant in any county in which a license is held. The bill also provides that a corporation must file a separate corporate application for each agent the corporation designates in the county (Secs. 1704.154 and 1704.160). H.B. 2192 provides that an applicant for renewal is not required to furnish letters of recommendation. The bill prohibits an attorney from executing a bail bond if the total amount of all outstanding bail bonds executed by the attorney exceeds $250,000 or if the board, rather than a sheriff, determines that the attorney has engaged in conduct that would subject a bail bond surety to license revocation (Secs. 1704.162 and 1704.163). H.B. 2192 removes provisions authorizing an agent of the board of the county in which the bond was executed or an attorney representing the state or an accused in the case to contest the surrender of the principal upon determining that a reason for the surrender was without reasonable cause (Sec. 1704.207). H.B. 2192 authorizes a corporation to limit the authority of an agent designated to execute bail bonds on behalf of the corporation by specifying the limitation in the power of attorney filed with the county clerk (Sec. 1704.211). H.B. 2192 increases the punishment from a Class C to a Class B misdemeanor if the person does not hold a license as required by these provisions and executes a bail bond or advertises as a bail bond surety (Sec. 1704.303). H.B. 2192 prohibits a person from placing a device in a place of detention, confinement, or imprisonment, that dispenses a bail bond in exchange for a fee (Sec. 1704.304). H.B. 2192 repeals provisions relating to the effect of default on bail bonds by a corporation (Sec. 1704.212) EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.