Dear CCPSAT Members,
Thank you to everyone who helped protect our industry this session.
Some of you have received a very distasteful and derogatory letter from the president of the
State's other association, the Texas Process Servers Association. TPSA President, Eric
Johnson, is apparently very upset that none of his bills became law and has expressed his
displeasure by lashing out at me and CCPSAT Founding Director, Dana McMichael. Though
Mr. Johnson blames us as being solely responsible for preventing all of his proposed bills,
his attack on us is really an attack on everyone who took time to voice their opposition this
session. As such, a response to Mr. Johnson's accusations is warranted.
Before I begin, I want to remind everyone that Mr. Johnson and other leaders of the TPSA
have been trying for years to force unwarranted licensing and regulation on our industry;
and their record of attempts is anything but untarnished. The Texas Legislature has rejected
them time and time again. Since 2003, TPSA leaders have wasted more than an estimated
$100,000.00 of their members' money on this endeavor despite the fact that state law and the
Texas Constitution stipulate that regulation is appropriate only to provide protection to the
public; and regulating any occupation is solely the responsibility of the Texas Legislature.
Still, each session, TPSA leaders try and, each session, they fail. I am proud to have been a
part of protecting our industry for the last several sessions. Mr. McMichael has been
working to protect process servers for more than 20 years. These efforts have secured our
freedoms and saved each and every process server in Texas thousands of dollars; even
those like Mr. Johnson who have an unnatural desire to be regulated by the government.
Despite the fact that Mr. Johnson makes several fantastic claims in his message, I will focus
on just one issue; House Bill 397. A quick look at the witness list will show that HB 397 was
the only TPSA bill that Mr. McMichael and I did not oppose and the record will show that we
sent out no alerts asking members to oppose it after it was changed from a licensing bill. In
fact, we supported the bill's concepts and actually worked to improve it. Unfortunately, as
worded, the bill would have created an unnecessary double standard by excluding all
legitimately authorized process servers except those who choose to be certified.
Certification is only one of at least nine different ways a private citizen can serve certain
types of process in Texas. One method does not make a person "more" authorized than
any other. I tried to get the committee to understand that the words "certified process
server" should read "authorized person," as it does in dozens of places in the current rules,
but, they declined to make that change. Once the bill was voted favorably out of the
committee, Mr. McMichael and I made no attempt to kill it.
The truth is, the wording in this bill was a deceptive trick by the pro-regulators to get the
Texas Legislature to unwittingly put the word "certified" into code (currently, certification
does not exist in code; it is literally "unlawful.") It was this sneaky trick that actually
jeopardized the bill and most likely caused its death. For whatever reason, the bill died on
its own and Mr. Johnson can offer no evidence to the contrary. While I am relieved that the
pro-regulators were unsuccessful, I was also sad to see their special interest agenda cause
what could have been a viable piece of legislation to fail. We all could have benefited from
the luxury of being able to e-file our returns and sign them without a notary. However, your
CCPSAT leaders will not compromise ethical standards for an ill gotten luxury, no matter
how beneficial it may be. Mr. Johnson is simply taking advantage of HB 397's failure to
attack those who do not share his political views.
As far as the rest of Mr. Johnson's message, I have no need to defend myself, especially to
those of you who have been following this battle. He will be successful in convincing only a
few gullible newcomers who have little or no legislative experience that two guys from
Austin acting alone prevented 7 different bills from passing. He won't admit that it was the
Texas Legislature that disagreed with every single item on his legislative agenda. He won't
acknowledge that we simply did the same thing he did; we gathered the troops to make
phone calls, send faxes and emails, and come to the Capitol to testify in person. It is fantasy
to believe that two people, with few legislative contacts and no legislative funding, would be
able to prevent the passage of numerous pieces of legislation; bills backed by tens of
thousands of dollars and the power and influence of the Texas Supreme Court, and pushed
for by an expensive lobbyist (who happens to be a former State representative,) and the
power, money and influence of one of the strongest political machines in Texas, the Justice
of the Peace and Constables Association.
Furthermore, Mr. Johnson's claim that we tried to kill statewide authority (which both Mr.
McMichael and I rely upon daily) is ludicrous and he has no evidence to support that claim.
The lawsuit against the PSRB was filed as a last resort and was necessary to protect
constitutional rights and freedoms of myself and our colleagues, and all process servers
including even Mr. Johnson. When the federal judge in that case rules, and if the ruling is
what I expect, Mr. Johnson will have some reason why he disagrees with the judge. It is my
sincere hope that the outcome of the suit will bring an end to the rogue and harmful PSRB,
not statewide authority. We did not spread misleading information, and we did not tarnish
anyone's reputation. We did not "hurt" anyone including his ridiculous assertion that our
actions somehow hurt "the children of Texas." And, being that no bills passed and
absolutely nothing has changed for our industry, it's hard to understand why Mr. Johnson
would claim it will "take years to repair the damage caused by these two disgruntled
individuals." Mr. Johnson is clearly upset at his own failures and the TPSA's lobbyist who
has failed to get one single process related bill passed since he was hired by the TPSA
leadership several years ago. His letter is nothing more than an attempt to try and damage
the reputations of those who simply disagree with him. Of all the accusations he makes
about damage to the industry, the truth is the real damage was prevented when his
legislative agenda failed (once again.)
Although Mr. Johnson's letter is all doom and gloom, he is ignoring one very important plus.
The fact that no process related bill passed (and absolutely nothing has changed) means
that every certified process server in the state can put their wallets back in their purses and
pockets and celebrate a savings of $153.00. That is the minimum amount Mr. Johnson's
PSRB funding bill would have cost each of us had it become law. Despite his claims, the
Court Reporters Board is not in jeopardy. The Guardianship Board is not in jeopardy. They
are already lawfully funded and will continue to operate without our money (I never
understood why he expected process servers to pay for them in the first place.) And,
despite the claim that the PSRB (and the certification program) will cease to exist without
funding, the PSRB is alive and well... just like last session... without absconding away with
our hard earned money. This proves they don't really need our money, they just want our
money so they can increase regulation, add more restrictions and have even more control
over our careers.
So, take that $153.00 and go buy yourselves something nice. You deserve it and... you're
welcome!
Sincerely,
Tod Pendergrass
Editor, Texas Process Watch
Founding Director, CCPSAT