84R8798 LEH-F
By: Thompson of Harris H.B. No. 2700
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the release of bulk criminal history record information
by certain individuals and agencies.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 552, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 552.1426 to read as follows:
Sec. 552.1426. DISSEMINATION OF BULK CRIMINAL HISTORY
RECORD INFORMATION. (a) In this section:
(1) "Bulk criminal history record information
request" means a request submitted to a district clerk, county
clerk, clerk of a justice or municipal court, or criminal justice
agency for production, in any format, of all or a significant
portion of the criminal history record information maintained by
that clerk, court, or agency.
(2) "Criminal history record information" means
information about a person that is collected or maintained by a
district clerk, county clerk, clerk of a justice or municipal
court, or a criminal justice agency and that consists of
identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions,
indictments, informations, and other formal criminal charges and
their dispositions. The term does not include:
(A) identification information, including
fingerprint records, to the extent that the identification
information does not indicate involvement of the person in the
criminal justice system;
(B) traffic offense information maintained by a
clerk of a municipal or justice court; or
(C) driving record information maintained by the
Department of Public Safety under Subchapter C, Chapter 521,
Transportation Code.
(3) "Criminal justice agency" has the meaning assigned
by Section 411.082.
(b) A district clerk, county clerk, clerk of a justice or
municipal court, or criminal justice agency, other than the
Department of Public Safety, that receives from any person or
entity a bulk criminal history record information request
concerning Class A or Class B or felony offenses for which a final
judgment has been rendered shall deny the request and provide the
requestor with instructions for submitting a bulk criminal history
record information request to the Department of Public Safety.
(c) A district clerk, county clerk, clerk of a justice or
municipal court, or criminal justice agency that grants a bulk
criminal history record information request submitted by any person
or entity and that concerns Class C offenses for which final
judgment has been rendered or offenses that are pending final
disposition shall:
(1) maintain a record of the name and contact
information of the requestor and the most recent date criminal
history record information was provided to the requestor; and
(2) publish the record on the clerk's or agency's
Internet website or, if the clerk or agency does not maintain an
Internet website, prominently display the record in a public area
of the clerk's or agency's place of business.
(d) This section does not restrict public access to criminal
history record information, other than through a bulk criminal
history record information request, or limit the general discretion
or authority of any district clerk, county clerk, clerk of a justice
or municipal court, or criminal justice agency.
SECTION 2. Section 411.087(a), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) Unless otherwise authorized by Subsection (e), a
person, agency, department, political subdivision, or other entity
that is authorized by this subchapter to obtain from the department
criminal history record information maintained by the department
that relates to another person is authorized to:
(1) obtain through the Federal Bureau of Investigation
criminal history record information maintained or indexed by that
bureau that pertains to that person; or
(2) obtain from any other criminal justice agency in
this state criminal history record information maintained by that
criminal justice agency that relates to that person, except as
otherwise provided by Section 552.1426.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.