82R4717 JE-D
By: Lucio III H.B. No. 3045
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the regulation of the location of pawnshops in certain
counties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 371.059, Finance Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 371.059. APPROVAL; ISSUANCE OF LICENSE. The [(a)
Subject to Subsection (b), the] commissioner shall approve the
application and issue a license if the commissioner finds that the
applicant is eligible for the license.
[(b) In a county with a population of 250,000 or more, the
commissioner shall approve an application for:
[(1) an original license to operate a pawnshop at a
facility that is not an existing licensed pawnshop at the time the
application is filed if the proposed facility is not located within
two miles of a licensed pawnshop;
[(2) the relocation of a licensed pawnshop to a
facility that is not an existing licensed pawnshop at the time the
application is filed if the facility where the pawnshop is to be
relocated is not located within one mile of a licensed pawnshop; and
[(3) the relocation of a licensed pawnshop if at the
time the application is filed the pawnshop has been in operation at
its current location for at least three years, and the facility
where the pawnshop is to be relocated is either within one mile of
its existing location or, if in excess of one mile from its existing
location, not within one mile of another existing operating
pawnshop.
[(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (b)(3), the commissioner
may approve an application for the relocation of a licensed
pawnshop that needs to relocate marginally further than one mile
from its existing location or that at the time the application is
made has not been in operation in its current location for at least
three years if the necessity for relocation was caused by
circumstances beyond the applicant's control.
[(d) A determination of distance for purposes of this
section is based on a measurement taken from the front door of a
facility to the front door of the other facility. For a facility
not in existence at the time the application is filed, the location
of the front door of the proposed facility must be indicated on
architectural drawings or comparable professionally prepared
drawings depicting the facility and the entire boundary of the lot
or parcel of land to which the facility is to be attached.]
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
an application for a pawnshop license or for the relocation of a
licensed pawnshop that is filed on or after the effective date of
this Act. An application for a pawnshop license or for the
relocation of a licensed pawnshop that is filed before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the
time the application was filed, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.