HBA-SEP H.B. 2569 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2569 By: Hochberg Financial Institutions 3/23/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, voluntary pawnbroker transaction carbon receipts are collected by law enforcement and entered into a computer system by a police department's pawn detail, which may be a less efficient method than allowing pawnbrokers to electronically report the information. In addition, there is no specified time period for holding suspected stolen property as evidence for a law enforcement investigation, and if the property is seized by a law enforcement agency, the pawnbroker loses the dollar amount paid to the person who illegally sold the property. House Bill 2569 provides for electronic reporting of the transactions, specifies the time period for holding suspected stolen property, and provides restitution to certain pawnbrokers. 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 2569 amends the Finance Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the requirements of pawnbrokers concerning reporting information and handling property involved in a law enforcement investigation. The bill amends the Finance Code to authorize a pawnbroker to provide information required by the consumer credit commissioner (reportable data) to a law enforcement agency by electronic means, in a manner and form specified by the law enforcement agency. If a pawnbroker is unable to provide reportable data in a timely manner for any reason, the pawnbroker is required to provide paper copies of the reportable data to the law enforcement agency. Electronically reported data is confidential and is authorized to be used by the agency only for official law enforcement purposes. If an official or a law enforcement agency has reasonable suspicion to believe that property in the possession of a pawnbroker is stolen, the official is authorized to place a hold order on the property requiring that the pawnbroker not dispose of or release the property. The order is authorized to require that the property be held for any period. If the order does not specify a hold period, a hold order is effective until the 91st day after the date a verbal or written hold order is placed. A law enforcement officer is authorized to renew a hold order at any time during the period the hold order is effective. The provisions regarding the duration of the original hold are applicable to a renewed hold. The bill prohibits a pawnbroker from disposing of or releasing property subject to a hold order except under a court order, under a release authorization from the law enforcement agency placing the property on hold, or on the seizure of the property by a law enforcement official. The bill amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to provide that a pawnbroker is eligible for restitution if the pawnbroker has loaned or paid money to the defendant in exchange for property that has been seized from the pawnbroker by a law enforcement agency, if the pawnbroker has positively identified the defendant as the person who pledged or sold the property, and if the defendant is convicted of theft of the property. The court is required to order the defendant to pay restitution to a pawnbroker in an amount equal to the money that the pawnbroker paid or loaned the defendant in exchange for the seized property. The court is also required, after considering the financial circumstances of the defendant, to specify in a restitution order the manner in which the defendant must pay the restitution. The bill authorizes a restitution order to be enforced by the state or the pawnbroker named by the order to receive the restitution in the same manner as a judgment in a civil action. The court is authorized to hold a hearing, make findings of fact, and amend a restitution order if the defendant fails to pay the pawnbroker named in the order in the manner specified by the court. The bill requires the consumer credit commissioner and the Department of Information Resources to create and direct a committee consisting of representatives of the pawnbroker industry, law enforcement, and the computer software industry to devise one or more standard formats for pawnbrokers to electronically provide reportable data to law enforcement agencies. The committee is required to review and recommend to the consumer credit commissioner, not later than January 1, 2002, formats to be designated by the commissioner that law enforcement agencies may adopt as the required format for pawnbrokers to use for electronically transmitting reportable data. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.