The House Committee on Licensing & Administrative Procedures

79th Legislature

November 15, 2006

1:00 p.m.

Capitol Extension, E2.012

 

Pursuant to a notice posted on November 6, 2006, the House Committee on Licensing & Administrative Procedures met in a public hearing and was called to order by the chair, Representative Flores, at 1:30 p.m.

 

The roll was answered as follows:

 

Present:              Representatives Flores; Geren; Chisum; Goolsby; Homer; Jones, Delwin; Morrison; Quintanilla (8).

 

Absent:              Representative Hamilton (1).

 

A quorum was present.

 

Oversight:  Texas Lottery Commission/Charitable Bingo Operations Division

 

Testimony was taken.  (See attached witness list.)

 

 

Oversight:  Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation/Cosmetologist Program

 

Testimony was taken.  (See attached witness list.)

 

 

Oversight:  State Bar of Texas

 

Testimony was taken.  (See attached witness list.)

 

 

Recommendations

 

Rep. Geren moved that the following committee recommendations be adopted:

 

1.  Create a new streamlined registration for A/C and refrigeration technicians. Registration requirement will not apply to new construction and will not require continuing education.

 

2.  Allow TDLR to examine criminal convictions, guilty please and deferred adjudications in determining whether to grant a registration for A/C and refrigeration technicians.

 

 

 

 

3.  Amend the Texas Racing Act, and any other related statutes,  to appropriate the necessary monies and grant the Texas Racing Commission more access and flexibility in the promotional advertising of the racing industry.

 

4.  Allow DPS to release a defendant's driving records  to the defendant/parent/guardian and allow the defendant to submit a copy of their driver's records to the court as a condition for dismissal on a deferred disposition.   

 

5.  Allow for the sale of lottery tickets at bars and restaurants that sell alcohol for on-premise consumption.

 

6.   Require non-disposable instruments to be disinfected and sterilized by using an autoclave or a dry-heat, ultraviolet or other board-approved sterilizer.

 

7.  Create combination licenses for barber and cosmetology businesses and schools.

 

8.  Create a specialty license for hairdressers who only provide haircutting and coloring services.

 

9.  Clarify in the State Lottery Act that the definition of a "minor" means an individual who is younger than 18 years of age.  The property code defines "minor" as an individual who is younger than 21 years of age.

 

10.  Amend the State Lottery Act to remove the agency's exemptions from contracting statutes and place them more in line with the Texas Building & Procurement Commission guidelines as other state agencies

 

11.  Require a risk-base approach to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Commission's security audit by amending Sec. 466.020(e), Texas Government Code as recommended by the State Auditor's Office Security Audit.

 

12.  Repeal the correlation of the prize payout percentage and the advertising budget.

 

13.  Increase the executive director's salary as recommended by the State Auditor's Office Workforce Management Audit.

 

14.  Eliminate unnecessary paperwork to reduce the cost of licensing to the charities and the state, to reduce application errors and to speed up the licensing process.

 

15.  Clarify that the Commission may issue a license to conduct bingo to a charity prior to the charity designating the location at which bingo will be conducted, with the license remaining on "administrative hold" (i.e inactive) until the location is determined.

 

16.  Shorten the time required for a charity to be in existence prior to being eligible to conduct bingo and allow charities that are just starting operation to be licensed.

 

17.  Define what constitutes a complete license and set time frames for the Commission to act on a license after the application is complete.

 

18.  Remove the one-year prohibition before an applicant can submit another application because the original application was rejected or deficient.

 

19.  Amend Section 2001.512, Occupation Code , to provide that the security a charity must provide to ensure payment of the state prize fee may be no more than the amount the charity is expected to owe.

 

20.  Provide that a charity may not be required to pay a monetary penalty for making an error on a required expense report if the error does not result in a change of the amount of prize fees due to the state, the amount required to be distributed or the profit made by the organization.

 

21.  Clarify that bingo paper may be sold prior to the start of a bingo session without those activities resulting in a penalty for playing outside the charity's licensed times.

 

22.  Authorize progressive bingo with a reasonable cap on the amount to which the progressive prize may grow.

 

There being no objection, the committee recommendations were adopted.

 

At 3:45 p.m., on the motion of the chair and without objection, the meeting was adjourned subject to the call of the chair.

 

 

________________________

Rep. Flores, Chair

 

 

________________________

Milda Mora, Clerk