82R6725 KCR-D
By: Thompson H.B. No. 2711
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the sealing of the records of juveniles who are the
victims of human trafficking and have been adjudicated to have
engaged in certain delinquent conduct.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 58.003, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (c-3) and (c-4) and amending Subsection (d) to
read as follows:
(c-3) This subsection applies only to a child who is the
victim of an offense under Section 20A.02, Penal Code, or is
otherwise described as a victim by Article 42.0191, Code of
Criminal Procedure. Notwithstanding Subsections (a) and (c) and
subject to Subsection (b), a juvenile court shall order the sealing
of records concerning a child adjudicated as having engaged in
delinquent conduct that violated a provision of Chapter 43, Penal
Code, when the child, as applicable, successfully completes the
term of the child's probation or is discharged from the Texas Youth
Commission. The court shall order the sealing of the records
immediately and without a hearing.
(c-4) A prosecuting attorney or juvenile probation
department may maintain until a child's 17th birthday a separate
record of the child's name and date of birth and the date the child
successfully completed the term of the child's probation or was
discharged from the Texas Youth Commission, if the child's records
are sealed under Subsection (c-3). The prosecuting attorney or
juvenile probation department, as applicable, shall send the record
to the court as soon as practicable after the child's 17th birthday
to be added to the child's other sealed records.
(d) The court may grant the relief authorized in Subsection
(a), [or] (c-1), or (c-3) at any time after final discharge of the
person or after the last official action in the case if there was no
adjudication, subject, if applicable, to Subsection (e). If the
child is referred to the juvenile court for conduct constituting
any offense and at the adjudication hearing the child is found to be
not guilty of each offense alleged, the court shall immediately and
without any additional hearing order the sealing of all files and
records relating to the case.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to the
sealing of records in the adjudication of a juvenile case on or
after the effective date of this Act, regardless of when the conduct
that is the subject of the adjudication occurred.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.