81R7874 HLT-D
By: West S.B. No. 1916
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the automatic expunction of arrest records and files
pertaining to an individual who has been pardoned.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 55.02, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Section 1a to read as follows:
Sec. 1a. (a) The trial court presiding over a case in which
a defendant is convicted and subsequently pardoned, if the trial
court is a district court, or a district court in the county in
which the trial court is located, shall enter an order of expunction
for a person entitled to expunction under Article 55.01(a)(1)(B)
not later than the 30th day after the date the court receives notice
of the pardon. The person shall provide to the district court all
of the information required in a petition for expunction under
Section 2(b).
(b) The attorney for the state shall prepare an expunction
order under this section for the court's signature.
(c) The court shall include in an expunction order under
this section a listing of each official, agency, or other entity of
this state or political subdivision of this state and each private
entity that there is reason to believe has any record or file that
is subject to the order. The court shall also provide in an
expunction order under this section that the Department of Public
Safety and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shall:
(1) return all records and files that are subject to
the expunction order to the court; and
(2) delete from its public records all index
references to the records and files that are subject to the
expunction order.
(d) The court shall retain all records and files provided to
the court under Subsection (c) until the statute of limitations has
run for any civil case or proceeding relating to the wrongful
imprisonment of the person subject to the expunction order.
SECTION 2. Section 2(a), Article 55.02, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
(a) A person who is entitled to expunction of records and
files under Article 55.01(a)(2) [55.01(a)] or a person who is
eligible for expunction of records and files under Article 55.01(b)
may file an ex parte petition for expunction in a district court for
the county in which:
(1) the petitioner was arrested; or
(2) the offense was alleged to have occurred.
SECTION 3. Section 3(c), Article 55.02, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
(c) When the order of expunction is final, the clerk of the
court shall send a certified copy of the order to the Crime Records
Service of the Department of Public Safety and to each official or
agency or other governmental entity of this state or of any
political subdivision of this state named in [designated by the
person who is the subject of] the order. The certified copy of the
order must be sent by secure electronic mail, electronic
transmission, or facsimile transmission or otherwise by certified
mail, return receipt requested. In sending the order to a
governmental entity named in the order [designated by the person],
the clerk may elect to substitute hand delivery for certified mail
under this subsection, but the clerk must receive a receipt for that
hand-delivered order.
SECTION 4. Section 5(a), Article 55.02, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
(a) Except as provided by Subsections (f) and (g), on
receipt of the order, each official or agency or other governmental
entity named in the order shall:
(1) return all records and files that are subject to
the expunction order to the court or in cases other than those
described by Section 1a, if removal is impracticable, obliterate
all portions of the record or file that identify the person who is
the subject of the order and notify the court of its action; and
(2) delete from its public records all index
references to the records and files that are subject to the
expunction order.
SECTION 5. This Act applies only to the expunction of arrest
records related to a criminal offense for which a pardon was granted
on or after the effective date of this Act. Expunction based on a
pardon that was granted before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect at the time the pardon was granted,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.