March 15, 2007-
PSRB Chairman Comes Unglued Over Proposed Bill
Senate Bill 1645 Sends Constables Into Frenzy.
On Monday, the chairman of the Process Server Review Board disseminated false and misleading
information concerning a bill that was filed at the Texas Legislature last week. Senate Bill 1645, filed
last Thursday, is fully endorsed by the same process servers responsible for killing a strict licensing
bill that PSRB Chairman, Carl Weeks supported last session. (In contrast, TPSA immediate past
president, Lee Russell, claims those same servers did the industry a favor by killing that bill.) If
successful, SB 1645 will make sure certification remains optional.
Below is Carl Weeks’ wild, undocumented, unverifiable, and unsupported-by-the-facts claims
regarding SB1645 by SEN. VAN DE PUTTE:
1. SB1645 would prohibit the Supreme Court certification program. Period.
2. SB1645 would cause a flood of people (“anyone who can read and write”) to enter the industry
and cause a nose dive in service fees to $15-$20.
3. SB1645 would result in thousands of bills of review to be filed due to bad, improper or non-
service.
4. SB1645 would cause the court system in Texas to clog.
5. SB1645 is a threat to our livelihoods.
6. SB1645 is brought to you by those that oppose the current Supreme Court certification program.
7. SB1645 could virtually wipe out our industry.
8. SB1645 is supported by those who oppose professionalizing our industry.
9. The Supreme Court certification program is working wonderfully.
10. SB1645 would be responsible for any “Joe” on the street to cause our industry to end up in
the gutter.
11. SB1645 is anti-government legislation.
12. Process servers have been duped by the supporters of SB1645.
13. Supporters of SB1645 oppose any form of regulation.
14. Supporters of SB1645 are not looking out for the interests of process servers.
15. SB1645 is supported by anti-regulatory forces.
Despite the fact that the industry has been in a similar situation for more than 20 years, Mr. Weeks
falsely claims SB1645 is an industry killer. What is the Truth?
1. Anyone over 18 years of age has been able to serve all forms of civil process for the past
nineteen years and even longer for all subpoenas, all federal process and process from many other
states.
2. Everyone currently in the industry was once that “Joe” that decided to try a new career serving
civil process; and everyone of us has wanted to get rid of the requirement for a written order of the
court (process servers industry-wide, including TPSA leaders, have long agreed that written orders of
the court were an unnecessary burden.)
3. The free market system provides for anyone who wants to offer service at lower fees than their
competition. Many have already tried it. History shows that those who have done this have generally
failed to remain in the industry.
4. In the 18 years before certification was around, with its mandatory training and background
checks, there have been few bills of review filed for bad service rendered by all of us “18-year old
Joes.” It is unreasonable to think that will change.
5. The Supreme Court certification program does not enjoy the trust of the industry. The PSRB
has attacked, damaged and destroyed the careers of process servers who have violated no laws in
Texas. It has certified process servers who were disqualified from even submitting applications
because of felony convictions and convictions involving moral turpitude; while refusing certification
to individuals having no criminal history at all.
6. The industry is satisfactorily regulated by existing State law, providing for legal courts to
adjudicate any unlawful actions of process servers (Mr. Weeks and his pro-regulation group have
never provided any evidence of process related crimes.)
7. SB1645 will provide the form of statewide authority to serve civil process that the industry has
sought for nineteen years. It will, in effect, serve as a universal blanket order that will not cost
process servers application fees, licensing fees or excessive training course fees; nor will it subject
their businesses and livelihoods to the scrutiny of a rogue board. Existing law will regulate the
industry, as it has done in the past, and will continue to do in the future.
8. Since the supporters of SB1645 are process servers, their objectives certainly are not to
damage their own industry. Their motives, thus, are pure. They do not have a hidden agenda, as
others do. They have not once asked the industry to pay fees or donate to regulation efforts.
9. The CCPSAT is the only State Association of process servers that keeps its members informed.
It does not say one thing and do another. It has no ulterior motive. It exists only to protect, inform,
and enhance the process serving industry.
10. SB 1645 would have absolutely no effect on the certification program. Anyone wishing to
obtain that credential will still be able to do so. Since SB1645 has absolutely nothing to do with the
certification program, it would not "prohibit" anything as Mr. Weeks claims in his opening paragraph.
The truth is, SB 1645 would finally bring an end to the constables' negative influence and the pro-
regulators threat of unfounded, full-blown industry regulation. It will provide the long sought after
statewide authorization we have all wanted for years while preserving certification as an option for
those who want that credential.
SB 1645 was filed as a defensive stance against this unrelenting effort of Mr. Weeks' group to pollute
the certification program and the industry with unnecessary and unwarranted over-regulation. It was
also filed in response to the proposed Rule 14. This proposed rule clearly demonstrates that the
original certification program is being used as a stepping stone to the very type of industry regulation
that the pro-regulators have failed to achieve through the proper channels (the Texas Legislature.)
Despite the fact that the Legislature has rejected licensing and regulation for the last nine sessions,
despite the fact that the Supreme Court's own Advisory Committee refused to even vote on the PSRB
recommendations, and despite the fact that the public comments were 100% opposed to Rule 14, the
PSRB will, next month, be given the authority to continue to destroy the careers of honest, well-
intentioned process servers who have never been convicted of any crime. In fact, the
implementation of Rule 14 actually proves the PSRB never had the authority to receive and
investigate complaints, conduct hearings or discipline process servers.
Weeks is not the only one coming unglued over SB 1645. The constables are also in a frenzy. This
actually demonstrates the fact that the constables do not agree with Mr. Weeks assessment of the
bill. The constables view SB1645 as an empowerment of the process serving industry and a threat to
their existence. More importantly, who's missing from this issue? THE ATTORNEYS OF TEXAS, OUR
CUSTOMERS. They are overjoyed with the level of service that has been provided by private process
servers for the last 20+ years. If Mr. Weeks' position on the issues had any validity, don't you think
attorneys across the state would be crying out for regulation? Their absence and the absence of any
legitimate proof supporting regulation reveals Mr. Weeks' motives to be questionable and his attack
of SB1645 as nothing more than fear-mongering.
HISTORICAL NOTE: Long before Carl Weeks ever left the constable's office to venture out into the
private process service industry, a group known as the Independent Process Servers of Texas was
the original state association that got Rules 103 & 536 on the books. Those rules, for the last 19 years,
only require the server be over eighteen years of age (and not a party to or interested in the outcome
of the suit) in order to obtain the written order of the court. Furthermore, before those rules were
written, people over 18 were serving subpoenas and Federal process. The industry has absolutely
out-served and outperformed the constables ever since. This proves that Mr. Weeks' claim that the
private process service industry needs to be professionalized is an outlandish fantasy. Mr. Weeks is
simply maintaining a smokescreen to pursue his one-track agenda of full-blown industry regulation.
All process servers, and especially TPSA members should remember that Mr. Weeks claimed that ALL
TPSA members supported his strict licensing bill (SB 165) last session despite the fact that
certification was already set to be implemented when that bill was filed. When industry watchdogs
killed that bill, the TPSA leadership did an about face and proclaimed their good fortune that their own
bill failed. And now Mr. Weeks claims certification is "working wonderfully." His support of SB165
nearly ruined any chance of the certification program he now praises.
As usual, what Mr. Weeks doesn't say in his message is more important that what he does say. He
doesn't want you to know that he supports and helped create the PSRB recommendations including a
switch to yearly training with more hours of class time. He wants you to forget about the PSRB's strict
code of conduct enforceable by the board he chairs and the newly created Rule 14 set to go into
effect next month. He is trying to turn your attention away from the PSRB's strict policy on
investigating process servers which includes a provision that not cooperating with his investigation
would be a violation in itself. He doesn't want you to think about the PSRB's strict policy on conduct
affecting your certification and how his board will be given control over your livelihood. He doesn't
announce that he is still actively pursuing the implementation of all the PSRB recommendations.
Missing from his message is the fact that giving him the monitory support he asks for will assist him in
achieving those goals. He's not telling you that once the PSRB is legitimized and all his
recommendations have been adopted, the Supreme Court can, with the stoke of a pen, amend Rules
103 & 536 to require that anyone wishing to serve process in Texas must become certified.
SB 1645 WOULD PREVENT THAT FROM HAPPENING.
[CLICK HERE] TO VIEW CARL WEEKS' MESSAGE AND AN IN-DEPTH, POINT-BY-POINT ANALYSIS.
[CLICK HERE] TO VIEW SENATE BILL 1645- "THE FREEDOM BILL"
NOTE: All this bill does is remove the need for a written order from the court for citations/writs as has
already been done by Courts like Grayson County Courts at Law and A.G. Child Support process.
[CLICK HERE] TO VIEW SENATE BILL 1305- "THE FEES BILL"
NOTE: This bill uses hypothetically beneficial elements to bait support for the bill's true intention of
collecting fees from process servers that will support a board intent on regulation. Don't let the
supporters of this bill convince you that you need to pay for changes the Supreme Court could have
already made. Do as Mr. Weeks suggests, compare these two bills side-by-side. But, more
importantly, compare this bill to what the pro-regulators in power are asking the Supreme Court to do,
i.e. the PSRB RECOMMENDATIONS and what the Court has ALREADY done for them (not you, THEM!),
i.e. RULE 14.
Until the "FEES" section of SB1305 is removed, no
process server should consider supporting this bill!
[CLICK HERE] TO VIEW AN ANALYSIS OF SB1305 AND WHY YOU SHOULD BE CONCERNED.
This message brought to you by supporters of SB1645 and the servers behind Texas Process Watch.
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