81R11121 PEP-D
By: Taylor H.B. No. 4406
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the application process for a license to carry a
concealed handgun.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 411.175, Government Code, is repealed.
SECTION 2. Section 411.172(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) A person is eligible for a license to carry a concealed
handgun if the person:
(1) is a legal resident of this state for the six-month
period preceding the date of application under this subchapter or
is otherwise eligible for a license under Section 411.173(a);
(2) is at least 21 years of age;
(3) has not been convicted of a felony;
(4) is not charged with the commission of a Class A or
Class B misdemeanor or an offense under Section 42.01, Penal Code,
or of a felony under an information or indictment;
(5) is not a fugitive from justice for a felony or a
Class A or Class B misdemeanor;
(6) is not a chemically dependent person;
(7) is not incapable of exercising sound judgment with
respect to the proper use and storage of a handgun;
(8) has not, in the five years preceding the date of
application, been convicted of a Class A or Class B misdemeanor or
an offense under Section 42.01, Penal Code;
(9) is fully qualified under applicable federal and
state law to purchase a handgun;
(10) has not been finally determined to be delinquent
in making a child support payment administered or collected by the
attorney general;
(11) has not been finally determined to be delinquent
in the payment of a tax or other money collected by the comptroller,
the tax collector of a political subdivision of the state, or any
agency or subdivision of the state;
(12) has not been finally determined to be in default
on a loan made under Chapter 57, Education Code;
(13) is not currently restricted under a court
protective order or subject to a restraining order affecting the
spousal relationship, other than a restraining order solely
affecting property interests;
(14) has not, in the 10 years preceding the date of
application, been adjudicated as having engaged in delinquent
conduct violating a penal law of the grade of felony; and
(15) has not made any material misrepresentation, or
failed to disclose any material fact, in an application submitted
pursuant to Section 411.174 [or in a request for application
submitted pursuant to Section 411.175].
SECTION 3. Section 411.176, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 411.176. REVIEW OF APPLICATION MATERIALS. (a) On
receipt of [the] application materials by the department at its
Austin headquarters, the department shall conduct the appropriate
criminal history record check of the applicant through its
computerized criminal history system. Not later than the 30th day
after the date the department receives the application materials,
the department shall forward the materials to the director's
designee in the geographical area of the applicant's residence so
that the designee may conduct the investigation described by
Subsection (b). For purposes of this section, the director's
designee may be a noncommissioned employee of the department.
(b) The director's designee as needed shall conduct an
additional criminal history record check of the applicant and an
investigation of the applicant's local official records to verify
the accuracy of the application materials. The director's designee
may access any records necessary for purposes of this subsection.
The scope of the record check and the investigation are at the sole
discretion of the department, except that the director's designee
shall complete the record check and investigation not later than
the 60th day after the date the department receives the application
materials. The department shall send a fingerprint card to the
Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal history
check of the applicant. On completion of the investigation, the
director's designee shall return all materials and the result of
the investigation to the appropriate division of the department at
its Austin headquarters.
(c) The director's designee may submit to the appropriate
division of the department, at the department's Austin
headquarters, along with the application materials a written
recommendation for disapproval of the application, accompanied by
an affidavit stating personal knowledge or naming persons with
personal knowledge of a ground for denial under Section 411.172.
The director's designee [in the appropriate geographical area] may
also submit the application and the recommendation that the license
be issued.
(d) On receipt at the department's Austin headquarters of
the application materials and the result of the investigation by
the director's designee, the department shall conduct any further
record check or investigation the department determines is
necessary if a question exists with respect to the accuracy of the
application materials or the eligibility of the applicant, except
that the department shall complete the record check and
investigation not later than the 180th day after the date the
department receives the application materials from the applicant.
SECTION 4. Section 411.177(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) The department shall, not later than the 60th day after
the date of the receipt by the director's designee of the completed
application materials:
(1) issue the license;
(2) notify the applicant in writing that the
application was denied:
(A) on the grounds that the applicant failed to
qualify under the criteria listed in Section 411.172;
(B) based on the affidavit of the director's
designee submitted to the department under Section 411.176(c)
[411.176(b)]; or
(C) based on the affidavit of the qualified
handgun instructor submitted to the department under Section
411.189(c); or
(3) notify the applicant in writing that the
department is unable to make a determination regarding the issuance
or denial of a license to the applicant within the 60-day period
prescribed by this subsection and include in that notification an
explanation of the reason for the inability and an estimation of the
amount of time the department will need to make the determination.
SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act in repealing
Section 411.175, Government Code, apply only to an application for
the issuance of a license that is submitted to the Department of
Public Safety on or after the effective date of this Act. An
application submitted before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect when the application was submitted,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.