New Year Brings New Laws Part V
With the start of the new year, it is important to know about the laws that went into effect. Certain laws that were passed during the 85th Regular Legislative Session came into effect on January 1, 2018. Over the past four weeks, we have reviewed some new laws and I’d like to continue to review others this week. These new laws range from bills addressing residential mortgage loan originators to confirmation elections. Each of the bills that took effect on January 1 went through a 140-day legislative session. During that 140-day period, these bills went before House and Senate Committees before going before the Texas House and Senate as a whole and then going to the Governor’s office.
The laws mentioned below represent some more of those pieces of legislation that passed and went into effect on January 1:
• House Bill (HB) 3342 relates to the prelicensing education requirements for residential mortgage loan originators. Interested parties contend that many people working in Texas as residential mortgage loan originators will soon be considered out of compliance with certain federal regulations regarding the mortgage industry. HB 3342 seeks to address this issue by adjusting the prelicensing education requirements for residential mortgage loan originators. HB 3342 amends the Finance Code to change the period during which an individual fails to maintain a residential mortgage loan originator license that triggers the requirement that the individual retake the prelicensing education requirements prescribed by the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act from at least five consecutive years to the period established by rule of the Finance Commission of Texas. HB 3342 requires the finance commission to adopt such rule not later than December 1, 2017.
• Senate Bill (SB) 549 relates to refunds of certain bingo licensing and registration fees. License fees for a bingo conductor’s license can be as much as $3,300 per year. If an organization chooses to withdraw its application or the Bingo Division denies the application, the organization cannot get a refund on any portion of the license fees. In 2013, the Texas Lottery Commission issued legal opinions indicating the commission did not have statutory authority to refund charitable bingo-related license application fees, or a portion thereof, to applicants who withdraw their applications or whose applications are denied. The commission does have express authority in the State Lottery Act to refund a portion of a lottery sales agent’s license application fee. The Bingo Enabling Act provides that the commission shall set the fees for a conductor or lessor license application fee in an amount necessary to defray administrative costs but not less than the amounts set out in the Act. Bingo-related license application fees must be submitted with the application or the application is considered “incomplete” and will be returned unprocessed to the applicant. The commission’s 2018-2019 Legislative Appropriations Report Efficiency Measures indicate the projected average cost per application processed for 2018 and 2019 is $25. SB 549 provides express authority to the commission to refund license fees and allows the commission to retain a portion of the license, not to exceed the lesser of 50 percent of the fee or $150, in order to defray the commission’s administrative cost of processing the application.
• HB 2358 relates to eligible voters in a confirmation election for a conservation and reclamation district. This bill amends the Water Code to require a voter in a confirmation election for certain water districts, or any election to authorize taxes and bonds held in conjunction with such a district confirmation election, to be a qualified voter of the district as provided by the Election Code. HB 2358 establishes that a vote cast in a district confirmation election or any election to authorize taxes and bonds held in conjunction with a district confirmation election is an illegal vote and that a district may not count the vote of a person who has received monetary consideration from any developer of property in the district in exchange for a vote or who, on the date of the election, was a developer of property in the district, was related within the third degree of affinity or consanguinity to such a developer, or was an employee of such a developer. HB 2358 requires an election officer to obtain, as part of the acceptance of a voter offering to vote in a district confirmation election, a voter affidavit from the voter in a specified form and with specified contents and authorizes the acceptance of a voter only for provisional voting if the voter is unable or unwilling to complete the voter affidavit. HB 2358 requires a district to submit original or certified copies of voter affidavits to the office of the attorney general in a transcript of proceedings of the confirmation election and requires that office to prescribe the form of the voter affidavit. HB 2358 requires the voter affidavit to require the voter to make certain statements under oath and requires the voter affidavit to include certain prescribed statements.
It is important to learn and know about the new laws that were passed by the 85th Texas Legislature. If you would like to view any of the other legislation that was passed during the 85th Session, these websites are great resources:
• The Texas Legislature
• The Texas House of Representatives.
• The Texas Senate.
If you have questions regarding any of the information mentioned in this article, please do not hesitate to call my Capitol or District Office. As always, my offices are available at any time to assist with questions, concerns or comments (Capitol Office, 512-463-0672; District Office, 361-949-4603).
– State Representative Todd Hunter, District 32
Rep. Hunter represents Nueces County (Part). He can be contacted at todd.hunter@house.texas.gov or at 512-463-0672.
