HBA-MPA H.B. 324 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 324
By: Brown, Fred
Licensing & Admin. Proced.
2/15/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, there are over 2,800 licensed auctioneers in Texas, and
auctioneers are continually coming into the state to hold auctions and
leaving in less than a week's time. The Texas Department of Licensing and
Regulation has one part-time investigator assigned to the auctioneer
program.  H.B. 324 allows fees and fines collected for enforcement of
auctioneer laws to be used for additional enforcement personnel and for
travel allowances. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that rulemaking
authority is expressly delegated to the Texas Department of Licensing and
Regulation in SECTION 1 (Article 8700, Section 11, V.T.C.S.) of this bill. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 11, Article 8700,V.T.C.S., as follows:

(c) Authorizes the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation
(department), by rule, to set penalties and fines for violation. 

Section 12. DISPOSITION OF REVENUES.  (a) Requires that all money collected
by the department, excluding funds for the Education and Recovery Fund, be
deposited in the general fund and credited to the auctioneers account and
used only to administer this chapter. 

(b) Requires the executive director to allocate no more than 20 percent of
the money in the account in the general revenue fund to cover
administrative costs of the department. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.