DAN MORALES

.Al-rORNEY GENERAL 

## QBffice

of the glttornep Qhneral Mate of ZEexae November 27,199l Honorable Tim Curry criminal District Attorney Tarrant County Justice Center 401 west Belknap Fort Worth, Texas 761964201 Opinion No. DM-59
Re: Whether the Tarrant County Sheriff may accept bail bond from a bondsman not licensed in that county, and related questions (RQ-185) DearMLcurry: You ask “[wlhether the Tarrant County Bail Bond Board has authority to require the Tarrant County Sheriff to accept bail bonds (for prisoners held in Tarrant County) tendered by out-of-county bondsmen who have already obtained the bond’s approval by a Sheriff where the bondsman resides.” Your request letter states that you have concluded that “tobe eligible and qualified to write a bail bond for a case pending in a court inTarrant County, the person acting as bondsman must be licensed by a Bail Bond Board in some Texas county (not necessarily Tarrant County) that is governed by Art. 2372~3, regardless of the individual bondsman’s county ofresidence.” Article 2372p-3, V.T.C.S., provides for the licensing and regulation of bail bondsmen by county bail bond boards. Counties of over 110,800population must, and counties with smaller Ropulations may, establish county bail bond boards. Id 05(a). The boards are composed of enumerated district, county, and municipal officers or their designees as well as a bondsman “licensed in the county elected by other county licensees.” Id 55(b). Article 2372p-3 applies to every county required to have, or which has elected to create, a county bail bond board. Ia! 93. Subsection (a) ofsection 6provides: Any person desiring to act as a bondsman in any couti ofthe county shah file with the County Bail Bond Board a sworn application for a license. (Emphasis added.)’ tother prtions ofsection 6 provide

for the rquisites of the application for a bondsman’s lkcasc,for aninvestigation and hearing bytheboard,and its denialof the application or approval cor&ioncdontheapplicaat’s fa ofthe required security deposits.

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The above-quoted language from subsection (a) of section 6 clearly contemplates that in order to act as a bail bondsman in a county having a bail bond board a person must be licensed by that county’s bail bond board. Thus we disagree with your conclusion that in order to write bail bonds for a case pending in a court in Tart-ant County a bondsman must be licensed in some Texas county but nor necessari&in TamantCounty.2
It follows that the Tarrant County board is not authorized to require the sheriff to accept bail bonds from bail bondsmen not licensed in the county.. While the board is given broad authority in section S(f) to exercise powers “incidental or necessary to the administration of,this Act,” it does not have authority to vary the requirements of the act. See Attorney General Opinion JM-1057 (1989), and authorities cited therein.3

We aIsonote that subsection (a) ofsection 3provides inrelevant part: In ? county that Itasaboard, a0 person may actas a+rIsmaa except: (1) person licensed under thisAct, and (2) persons licensed to practice law in this state who meet the rquirements set forth in Subsection (e) ofSection 3ofthisAct.
We do not understand you to be concerned about the activities as bondsmen of “persons Iiceased to practice IaUrand limit this opinion accordingIy. ?We agree, however, that there isa0 rquirement that abondsman, so long ashe isLicensedby the county’s board, be a resident of that county ia order to write bonds ia that county. See id 0 6 (requirements of application). It is ako clear that a person may be licensed in more.than ooe county. See,e.g.,id. 54(a) (bondsmae to maintain separate records “foreach county in wbkh the bondsman is Ikepsed”). 3Attomey General Opinion JM-1057 in fact largely aawered the question you cow present. In responding to the question what authority a board bad io coktieg 011 a bond given in another county by a bondsman kensed by that board, the opinion noted, under section 6(a), that a board “is not empowered by the act to grant a license to an applicant to act as a bondsman ia another couety.’ (The opinion ako cited the language of section 5(f)(l), that the board is empowered to enforce the provisions of art& 2372~3-3 “within the county,” in conduding that the board bad no authority in cokctieg oa bonds executed outside the county.) See CrLro Attorney General Opinion JM-271 (1984) (aceeptaace ofbail bond by sheriff ia county of arrest from bail bondsman Liecasedin county of arrest to obtain release ofaccused held on out-of-county capius orwarrant).

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We do note that the provisions of article 2372p-3 when first adopted in 1973 provided in section 12(b):

Any licensee under this Act may execute bail bonds in the county in which his license is issued and, after being certified by the sheriff in his county, may present abail bond to any sheriff in the state having custody of the accused person named therein, except that a sheriff of a county having a population in excess of 150,090 according to the last preceding federal census may require that all bail bonds be executed by persons licensed in that county. Acts 1973,63d Leg., ch.550,at 1525. The county population figure in the provision was changed to 110,ooOin 1979. Acts 1979, 66th Leg., ch. 111, at 202. In 1981, however, a bill which substantially rewrote the provisions of article 2372p-3 deleted the above-quoted provisions of section 12(b). Acts 1981,67th Leg., ch. 312, 5 1,at 883. We find no exception in the current provisions ofarticle 2372p-3 (save for licensed attorneys as provided for in section 3(a)(2) -- see s&a note 1) to the requirement of section 6 that a person desiring to act as a bail bondsman in a county covered by the article must obtain a license from that county’sbail bond board. Other provisions of article 2372p-3 are consistent with this conclusion. For example, section 9(b)(6) provides that the board may suspend or revoke a license for a bondsman’s “failingto pay within 30 days any finaljudgment rendered on any forfeited bond inanycourtofcompetent jurisdiction withinthecountyofthe licensee.” (Emphasis added.) These provisions, we believe, contemplate that a bondsman will be doing bail bond business only in those counties subject to article 2372~3 in which the bondsman is licensed. Otherwise, there would be provisions for a board’s suspending or revoking abondsman’s licence for failure to pay a forfeiture judgment amount in a county other than the one in which the bondsman was licensed.4

4Notably, prior to the 1981removal of the provisions formerly in section 12(b), referenced abpve - providing for a sheriff’s accepting the bond of aa out-of-county licensee in certain cases -- section 9(a)(5) provided for a board’s suspendiig or revoking a license for a ticensee’s failieg to pay a forfeiture judgment rendered “iaany court ofcompeient jurisdiction within this stute.” Acts 1973,63d Leg.,ch. 550,at 1524(emphasis added).

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You also ask “[wlhether the Tarrant County Sheriff is required to accept a bail bond from a bondsman who resides outside Tarrant County and isnot licensed by any Texas county.” (Emphasis in original.) It follows from the foregoing that the sheriff may not accept a bond from an unlicensed bondsman. See supm note 2, (regarding residence). 

## SUMMARY

Under article 2372p-3, V.T.C.S., a person must be licensed by the Tarrant County Bail Bond Board in order to act as a bail bondsman in any court ofTarrant County.

DAN MORALES Attorney General ofTexas
WILL PRYOR First Assistant Attorney General
MARY KELLER Deputy Assistant Attorney General JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY (Ret.) Special Assistant Attorney General RENEA HICKS Special Assistant Attorney General MADELEINE B.JOHNSON Chair, Opinion Committee Prepared byWilliam Walker Assistant Attorney General

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