My JP wants to know whether he can designate which sureties may be used for an appeals bond--a list of those sureties approved by the sheriff. We are small and have no bail bond board.

CCP 17.141 allows the sheriff to post a list of eligible bail bond sureties.

If we're talking about an appeal bond for a civil case, for instance, the governing provision will be Tex. R. Civ. P. 571, so the bail bond surety provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (or the Occupations Code, for that matter) would be inapposite. In a civil appeal, the only standard is that the sureties be "good and sufficient". That determination is made if the sureties are "approved by the justice". Though it's not directly controlling, it may be useful by means of analogy to note that section 604.002 of the Government Code provides an alternative for official bonds: either two good and sufficient sureties or a corporate surety that is authorized to conduct such business in Texas. Without the benefit of further research, that's just what I know off the top of my head.

I will check with my JP. I assumed he was talking about criminal cases.

If that is what the judge is asking...