H.B. No. 2932
AN ACT
relating to including in the law enforcement information system
information indicating that criminal defendants have committed
certain additional offenses.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 411, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subchapter D-1 to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER D-1. CENTRAL INDEX OF CERTAIN ADDITIONAL OFFENSES
SUSPECTED TO HAVE BEEN COMMITTED BY CRIMINAL DEFENDANTS
Sec. 411.0601. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "criminal
justice agency" has the meaning assigned by Article 60.01, Code of
Criminal Procedure.
Sec. 411.0602. ESTABLISHMENT OF CENTRAL INDEX; ENTRY OF
INFORMATION. (a) In the law enforcement information system
maintained by the department, the bureau of identification and
records shall establish and maintain a central index to collect and
disseminate information regarding additional offenses that
forensic DNA test results indicate may have been committed by a
defendant who has been arrested for or charged with any felony or
misdemeanor offense, other than a misdemeanor offense punishable by
fine only.
(b) Information relating to a defendant described by
Subsection (a) may be entered in the central index only if the
information is based on forensic DNA test results indicating that
the DNA profile of the defendant cannot be excluded as a donor to
the DNA profile of a person suspected to have committed an offense,
regardless of whether the defendant has been or will be arrested for
or charged with that offense. The information must be:
(1) submitted in the form of an affidavit signed by a
representative of an investigating criminal justice agency and
approved by a district judge; and
(2) accompanied by a set of the defendant's
fingerprints.
Sec. 411.0603. CONFIDENTIALITY AND DISSEMINATION OF
INFORMATION IN CENTRAL INDEX. (a) Information maintained by the
department in the central index established under this subchapter
is confidential. The department may not disseminate the
information except as otherwise provided by this section.
(b) On proper inquiry, the department shall disseminate to a
criminal justice agency the information collected under Section
411.0602. The criminal justice agency may disseminate the
information to any other criminal justice agency if the
dissemination of that information is for a criminal justice
purpose.
(c) A criminal justice agency or an employee of a criminal
justice agency is not liable for an act or omission relating to the
collection, use, or dissemination of information collected under
Section 411.0602 if that collection, use, or dissemination is
performed in accordance with rules adopted by the director.
Sec. 411.0604. RULES. The director shall adopt rules to
implement and enforce this subchapter.
Sec. 411.0605. RIGHT TO REQUEST NOTICE OF ENTRY IN CENTRAL
INDEX. (a) A defendant described by Section 411.0602(a) may submit
to the bureau of identification and records a request to determine
whether the bureau has entered information relating to the
defendant in the central index established under Section 411.0602.
The bureau shall respond to the request not later than the 10th
business day after the date the bureau receives the request.
(b) Before responding to a request under Subsection (a), the
bureau may require reasonable written verification of the identity
of the defendant submitting the request, including written
verification of an address, date of birth, driver's license number,
state identification card number, or social security number.
Sec. 411.0606. RIGHT TO REQUEST REVIEW OF ENTRY IN CENTRAL
INDEX. (a) On receipt by the bureau of identification and records
of a written request that is submitted by a defendant described by
Section 411.0602(a), that is accompanied by a set of the
defendant's fingerprints, and that alleges that the bureau may have
entered inaccurate information relating to the defendant in the
central index established under Section 411.0602, the head of the
bureau or that person's designee and the head of the department's
crime laboratory in Austin each shall review the information to
determine whether there is a high likelihood that the information
is accurate.
(b) If after review the head of the bureau or that person's
designee or the head of the department's crime laboratory in Austin
determines there is not a high likelihood that the information
relating to the defendant is accurate, the bureau shall:
(1) promptly remove that information from the central
index; and
(2) notify other appropriate divisions of the
department, the investigating criminal justice agency, and the
defendant of the bureau's determination and the removal of the
information.
(c) If after review the head of the bureau or that person's
designee and the head of the department's crime laboratory in
Austin jointly determine there is a high likelihood that the
information relating to the defendant is accurate, the bureau shall
notify the defendant of that determination.
SECTION 2. (a) Not later than December 1, 2009, the public
safety director of the Department of Public Safety of the State of
Texas shall adopt the rules required by Section 411.0604,
Government Code, as added by this Act.
(b) The change in law made by this Act in adding Subchapter
D-1, Chapter 411, Government Code, applies to the inclusion of
forensic DNA test results in the central index required to be
established under that subchapter, regardless of whether the test
results were obtained before, on, or after the effective date of
this Act.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2932 was passed by the House on April
28, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 145, Nays 0, 1 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 2932 on May 29, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 141, Nays 1,
1 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2932 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 27, 2009, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor