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The Oakley Report
By Keith Oakley
ASSIST LOBBYIST
[email protected]
When the Texas Legislature meets this January, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Private Security Board will both face Sunset Review. Each state agency goes through this legislative review every 10 to 12 years.
The Legislature will determine what changes need to be made to each agency, or if the agency should be merged with another, or if it should even continue to exist!
ASSIST has been working closely with the Sunset Advisory Commission staff for the past year. They recently held hearings in Austin concerning their recommendations for DPS and PSB. While we support the majority of the staff�s recommendations, we did suggest some changes.
(1). Staff Recommendation 6.2: Apply Occupations Code Chapter 53 to the Private Security Act to provide flexibility and fairness in licensing applicants with criminal histories.
This proposed change could allow more individuals who have made mistakes in their past to gain jobs in the security profession. We agree with the Sunset staff that certain extenuating circumstances should be addressed when considering individuals who may not have a perfect record for positions as security officers.
However, we feel that the very nature of our profession requires more scrutiny than Chapter 53 of the Occupations Code demands. We also feel this very goal has been accomplished by the Private Security Board. The board recently designated a number of �non-violent� offenses as those that may be considered for licensure. We feel the board should have the authority to make those determinations on a case-by-case basis.
We feel that if changes need to be made to broaden the board�s authority on this matter, they should be made to Chapter 1702 of the Occupations Code, the Private Security Act, and not Chapter 53.
(2). Under issue No. 7, the Sunset staff has recommended that �Private Security Bureau troopers be prohibited from having outside employment as security officers.�
We disagree with this recommendation. We feel that the Texas Department of Public Safety does a great job of regulating their troopers concerning their off-duty employment. We have found no instances of conflicts of interest with regard to this issue.
DPS closely regulates where the troopers may work off-duty security jobs and how many hours they may work off duty. DPS does not allow troopers to work off-duty security jobs for establishments that derive more than 50 percent of their revenue through the sale of alcohol.
We feel the DPS model of regulating their officers� off-duty security jobs works well to eliminate any possible conflicts of interest.
We go even further in our support of their program to say that the DPS model for off-duty jobs should be adopted by all law enforcement agencies throughout the state of Texas.
We have also found that troopers assigned to regulate our industry are law enforcement professionals of the highest moral character and beyond reproach. Therefore, we respectfully oppose this recommendation.
(3). On issue No. 6.3, Sunset staff has recommended jurisprudence examinations of all registrants.
There are some levels of licensure that do not require a full testing of the Texas civil statutes and the Private Security Board Rules governing our profession. We believe that the PSRB has done a great job of continuing to improve their testing program. The tests continue to become more appropriate for the individual segments of the profession.
We feel that the PSRB should be continued to be directed by the legislature to develop and administer their testing programs. We do not feel that the contents of the exam should be placed into statute.
(4). On staff recommendation 6.6, concerning increasing the administrative penalty to $5,000 per
day:
We want the agency to continue to press for the most severe penalties for the most heinous violations of the act and board rules. However, we want the penalty to continue to fairly match the infraction. The board rules and statutory requirements require necessary, but nontheless complicated, paperwork for our people. Many of the violations are honest paperwork mistakes made by companies doing their best to stay within full compliance with the PSB. We want the board to continue to have the authority to hear appeals on fines levied by investigators, and then perhaps on to district court if no agreement is reached.
We feel that the suggested increase in fines would be appropriate for the worst of violations. There have always been unlicensed security company operators in Texas. They set up security businesses without registering with PSB or DPS, or anybody else. They show careless disregard for the laws concerning private security, and as a result, property is lost and innocent Texans have been injured or killed.
During the years before the private security profession in Texas was placed under the regulation of the PSB at DPS, enforcement had become almost nonexistent. The word got out, and illegal security businesses were springing up across the state. Now, the word is out to illegal operators:
DPS investigators will get you, sooner or later. We hope sooner. They are making Texas a safer place in which to live and we greatly appreciate their efforts.
Along with the Sunset legislation, the ASSIST legislative team is gearing up to fight for the right for security services contractors to place a lien against a business that refuses to pay for services provided. Our members are suffering losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars each year due to this situation.
We also want to stop the Texas Workforce Commission from fighting for individuals who we can not hire, or have had to fire, due to criminal histories. This situation is costing security companies countless hours of senseless paperwork and telephone calls.
If you have information that could help us with any of these issues, or if you have other issues that you feel the ASSIST legislative team should address, please let us know.
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