21.  When a corporate bail bond agent executes a Tarrant County bond on behalf of corporate surety, he is responsible for all the company’s obligations to see that notice of future court settings is properly conveyed to the corporation’s client, and he must obey all the other rules and regulations of this board and of the Texas Occupations Code Chapter 1704 in dealing with this client. 
  
 a.  Class A agent shall mean any person hired by a bondsman who performs either of the following duties:
1. meets and negotiates with members of the public for the purpose of selling bail bonds;

 

2.  presents bonds to the Sheriff’s Department or  another  law enforcement officer or magistrate for approval.

 

 b.  Class B agent shall mean any person hired by the bondsman who performs the following duty:
  1.  meets and negotiates with members of the public for the purpose of selling bail bonds.
 
c.  The Board will not grant a license or a renewal as a Class A agent to any person, who after August 27, 1973, commits an offense for which he is finally convicted, such offense being a felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude.  An application for a Class A or B agent’s license must be personally signed by the bondsman wishing to employ the applicant as a Class A or B agent.  A signature stamp will not suffice, nor will anyone signing on the bondsman’s behalf, even with explicit permission of the bondsman.

 

      The Board will grant a license or renewal as a Class B agent to such a person only under each of the following four    conditions:

 

(1) At least ten years have passed since the felony conviction or   misdemeanor conviction involving moral turpitude;

 

(2) At lease ten years have passed since the release from any incarceration pursuant to the felony conviction or misdemeanor conviction involving moral turpitude;

 

(3) During the ten years preceding the person’s application, he or she must have received no further criminal convictions,  probations ,or deferred adjudications for any criminal matter other than Class C traffic violations; and

 

(4) The person must not be on parole or mandatory supervision at the time he or she makes application for license. 

 

In order to facilitate this inquiry, an applicant for a Class A or B agent’s license shall provide one set of fingerprints with his application.  After one set has been provided, no additional set will be required for further renewals.

 

d. No bondsman may employ a person as either a Class A or Class B agent who is not licensed to perform those functions in Tarrant County by the Tarrant County Bail Bond Board.

 

e.  The fee for licensing an agent shall be $50.00 for Class A and B licenses.

 

f. 1.  Each bondsman may employ up to three (3) Class A agents.

 

2.  Each bondsman may have as many employees licensed as Class B agents as he desires.

 

 g.  In order to qualify for a Class A or B license as an agent, an applicant must show that he meets all requirements of the Act and these Rules other than the net worth and collateral necessary for applicants seeking a bail bondsman’s license.  If an applicant appears to have previously violated the Act or these Rules or to have engaged in conduct unbecoming a bondsman, the Board will not license the applicant as a Class A or B agent for any Tarrant County bondsman.

 

 Class A and B agents shall comply with the Act, and the Rules and Regulations of the Tarrant County Bail Bond Board.  Upon showing that a Class A or B agent has violated either the Act, or the Rules and Regulations, or conduct unbecoming a bondsman, the license(s) for such agent may be suspended or revoked for each bondsman represented by such agent.

 

 h.  Each bondsman is responsible for the actions taken by those Class A and B agents hired by the bondsman.  Upon showing that a Class A or B agent has violated the Act or the Rules and Regulations while representing one or more specific bondsman, the license of the bondsman may be suspended or revoked.

 

 i.  An applicant who has been denied a Class A or B license may not reapply for a period of six months from the date of the denial of his application for license.

 

 j. No former bondsman who still has a connected phone number which was previously advertised or published in connection with his or her former bail bond business may act or be licensed as a Class A or B Bail bond agent under another bail bond surety.  Any former bondsman who wishes to act as a Class A agent or Class B agent under another bail bond surety must disconnect (without forwarding notice to callers) all phone numbers which were formerly published or advertised in connection with the bondsman's former license as a bail bond surety.

 

22.  The chairman of the bail bond board, in his or her discretion, may authorize a bondsman to make temporary use of an “emergency” Class A or B agent, when the bondsman encounters unusual circumstances depriving him or her of the services of his or her normal agents.  Such an authorization shall be effective for only 72 hours.

 

This emergency authorization may occur no more than once in a calendar month. 

 

Before using the temporary agent, the Bondsman must submit a written memo to the Sheriff’s office documenting the permission received for a particular individual to act as temporary agent, and the particular time period for which permission has been granted.

 

A temporary agent under these rules must have a current agent’s license in good standing with one or more Tarrant County Bondsmen to become a temporary agent for any additional bondsman.  A temporary agent who will serve as a Class A agent must possess a current Class A license for one or more Tarrant County Bondsmen to serve as a temporary agent for any additional bondsman.