81R5105 HLT-D
By: Martinez Fischer H.B. No. 4108
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to a central database containing information about certain
offenders who have committed offenses involving family violence
against a child.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 411.088(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) The department may not charge for processing an
electronic inquiry, made through the use of the Internet, for
information described as public information under:
(1) Section 411.1356; or
(2) Article 62.005, Code of Criminal Procedure[, made
through the use of the Internet].
SECTION 2. Section 411.135(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) Any person is entitled to obtain from the department:
(1) any information described as public information
under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, [as added by Chapter
668, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997,]
including, to the extent available, a recent photograph of each
person subject to registration under that chapter; [and]
(2) criminal history record information maintained by
the department that relates to the conviction of or a grant of
deferred adjudication to a person for any criminal offense,
including arrest information that relates to the conviction or
grant of deferred adjudication; and
(3) any information described as public information
under Section 411.1356.
SECTION 3. Subchapter F, Chapter 411, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 411.1356 to read as follows:
Sec. 411.1356. CENTRAL DATABASE OF OFFENDERS COMMITTING
OFFENSES INVOLVING FAMILY VIOLENCE AGAINST A CHILD. (a) The
department shall maintain a computerized central database
containing information regarding persons who have been convicted of
an offense:
(1) for which an affirmative finding of family
violence was made under Article 42.013, Code of Criminal Procedure;
and
(2) of which the victim was a child of the family or
household who was younger than 17 years of age at the time the
offense was committed.
(b) The information contained in the database is public
information, with the exception of any information:
(1) regarding the person's social security number,
driver's license number, or telephone number; or
(2) that would identify the child who was the victim of
the offense.
(c) The database maintained by the department under this
section must contain, to the extent the information is available to
the department:
(1) the person's full name, each alias used by the
person, and the person's date of birth;
(2) the person's last known address;
(3) a physical description and recent photograph of
the person;
(4) a list of each conviction for an offense described
by Subsection (a), the date of conviction for each offense, and the
punishment prescribed for each offense; and
(5) an indication as to whether the person was
discharged, placed on juvenile probation or community supervision,
or released on parole or to mandatory supervision following the
conviction for each offense.
(d) The department shall permit a person whose name is
included in the database established under this section to petition
the department for removal of the person's name from the database,
and the department shall remove the person's name from the database
in response to the petition if:
(1) an order of expunction is issued under Chapter 55,
Code of Criminal Procedure, with respect to an offense described by
Subsection (a), unless the person has one or more other convictions
for an offense described by that subsection; or
(2) the person establishes that the person, at the
time the petition is made, does not have as a member of the person's
family or household, as those terms are defined by Chapter 71,
Family Code, a child who is younger than 17 years of age.
(e) On the website through which a person may search the
database described by this section, the department shall include
information regarding:
(1) the manner in which a person may petition the
department for removal of the person's name from the database; and
(2) the circumstances under which the department will
grant the petition.
SECTION 4. The central database required by Section
411.1356, Government Code, as added by this Act, must be designed
and implemented not later than January 1, 2010, and may only include
conviction information with respect to offenses described by
Subsection (a) of that section that are committed on or after the
effective date of this Act. For purposes of this section, an
offense was committed on or after the effective date of this Act if
each element of the offense occurred on or after that date.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.