Texas has established a statewide alarm ordinance that puts guidelines on alarm response policies for cities and also sets a limit for how much a city could charge for an alarm permit. It also doesn’t allow any Texas city to enact a verified alarm response policy without holding public hearings.
The new law also authorizes cities in the state to require alarm companies to adopt enhanced call verification (ECV), where monitors must make two calls to attempt to reach an alarm owner before dispatching police. Texas is the first state to adopt an ECV provision.
After being approved by both houses of Texas’ state government in May, Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed the bill into law on June 17. It will go into effect on Sept. 1.
