Relating to certain enforcement powers of the banking commissioner regarding the regulation of money services businesses.
HB 3805 expands the Texas banking commissioner’s enforcement authority over money services businesses, including money transmitters and related licensees. The bill authorizes the commissioner to issue removal or prohibition orders against current or former key individuals, employees, control persons, or others participating in a licensee’s affairs when there is credible evidence of intentional misconduct, violations of cease-and-desist orders, false record entries, or other conduct tied to financial harm, customer prejudice, or personal gain. It also allows the commissioner to act against persons who have been finally convicted of certain felonies involving money services, dishonesty, or breach of trust.
The bill establishes procedures for proposed orders, hearings, immediate effectiveness in felony-based cases, and later applications for release from a final order after 10 years. It also gives the commissioner discretion to make orders permanent, time-limited, probated, or conditional, and makes certain decisions final and not appealable. The measure is aimed at strengthening oversight and removing bad actors from the money services industry while preserving administrative due process in non-felony cases.
HB 3805 amends Chapter 152 of the Texas Finance Code by adding new Sections 152.411, 152.412, and 152.413. These provisions broaden the banking commissioner’s ability to bar individuals from working in or participating in money services businesses and other entities regulated by the commissioner, and they create a new framework for removal, prohibition, hearing rights, immediate orders after certain felony convictions, and post-order relief after 10 years. The bill directly affects money services licensees, their key individuals, employees, control persons, customers, and the broader regulated financial services sector in Texas.
The bill appears to have received overwhelmingly positive and noncontroversial support. It passed the House and Senate with unanimous or near-unanimous votes, and the available vote history shows no recorded opposition on final passage. The lack of committee transcript material also suggests there was little public disagreement or debate reflected in the record provided.
No major points of contention are evident in the provided materials. The main policy balance in the bill is between stronger regulatory enforcement and procedural protections for affected individuals, especially the right to request a hearing in non-felony cases and the ability to seek release from an order after 10 years. Any potential concern would likely center on the commissioner’s broad discretion and the immediate effect of orders in felony-conviction cases, but the legislative record provided does not show organized opposition to those provisions.