Texas Attorney General Opinion: JC-8 Page: 2 of 5
This text is part of the collection entitled: Texas Attorney General Opinions and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.
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The Honorable Ken Oden - Page 2
by the sheriff to have violated any term of this Act, may not qualify thereafter
under the exception provided in this subsection unless and until they come
into compliance with those practices made the basis of revocation under this
Act.
Id. 3(e) (emphasis added). Thus, an attorney in a county subject to the Act who is not licensed as
a bondsman may not execute a bail bond for a person who is not his or her client. See Tex. Att'y
Gen. LO-93-63 (attorney may execute bail bond for person who is not his or her client only if
attorney is licensed as bondsman). Section 15(g), the provision at the heart of your query, provides
that "[n]o person may advertise as a bondsman who does not hold a valid license under this Act."
TEX. REV. CIV. STAT. ANN. art. 2372p-3, 15(g) (Vernon Supp. 1999). A violation of section 15(g)
is a Class C misdemeanor. Id. 15(j).
You ask about the application of section 15(g) to attorneys who execute bail bonds or act as
sureties under section 3(e). We understand that the Travis County Bail Bond Board has been urged
to disqualify all such attorneys who have run advertisements in the Bail Bond section of the
telephone book yellow pages. Pending this opinion, you have advised the board that an attorney who
is not licensed as a bondsman may advertise in the Bail Bond section of the telephone book yellow
pages if the advertisement contains the following disclaimer: "Permitted by law to execute bail
bonds for persons actually represented in criminal cases." Briefs submitted to this office suggest that
section 15(g) precludes an attorney from advertising in the Bail Bond section of the telephone book
yellow pages as a matter of law. We disagree that section 15(g) can be read this broadly.
Significantly, section 15(g) provides that "[n]o person may advertise as a bondsman who
does not hold a valid license under this Act." Id. 15(g) (emphasis added). The term "bondsman"
is defined by the Act to mean "any person whofor hire or for any compensation deposits any cash
or bonds or other securities, or executes as surety or cosurety any bond for other persons." Id. 2(2)
(emphasis added). An attorney who executes a bail bond or acts as surety for a person the attorney
actually represents in a criminal case as permitted by subsection 3(e) does not fall within the
definition of the term "bondsman" because the attorney does not execute the bond or act as surety
"for hire or for any compensation." Under section 3(e), an attorney is permitted to execute a bond
only for a client the attorney "actually represent[s] in [a] criminal case[]," id. 3(e); the execution
of the bond must be merely ancillary to the representation. The section 3(e) exception does not
permit an attorney to receive compensation merely for executing a bond. While an attorney
operating under section 3(e) may be compensated for representing the client, the fact that an attorney
is compensated for representing the client in the criminal case does not make the attorney a
"bondsman" for purposes of the Act. In sum, an attorney properly acting pursuant to section 3(e)
does not act as a bondsman within the meaning of the Act.
Because an attorney properly acting pursuant to section 3(e) does not act as a bondsman, an
attorney who merely advertises a service he or she is authorized to provide under section 3(e) does(JC-0008)
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Texas. Attorney-General's Office. Texas Attorney General Opinion: JC-8, text, February 26, 1999; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth274317/m1/2/?q=%221999%22: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.