84R10563 MAW-F
By: Bonnen of Galveston H.B. No. 3042
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to access to and review of information by a law enforcement
agency regarding a potential employee of the agency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1701.451, Occupations Code, is amended
by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (d) and (e) to
read as follows:
(a) Before a law enforcement agency may hire a person
licensed under this chapter, the agency head or the agency head's
designee must:
(1) make a request to the commission for any
employment termination report regarding the person that is
maintained by the commission under this subchapter; and
(2) submit to the commission on the form prescribed by
the commission confirmation that the agency:
(A) conducted in the manner prescribed by the
commission a criminal background check regarding the person;
(B) obtained the person's written consent on a
form prescribed by the commission for the agency to view the
person's employment records;
(C) obtained from the commission any service or
education records regarding the person maintained by the
commission; and
(D) reviewed the person's employment records
from [contacted] each of the person's previous law enforcement
employers.
(d) A law enforcement agency's failure to review a person's
employment records as required by Subsection (a)(2)(D) or to make a
person's employment records available as required by Subsection
(a-1) constitutes grounds for imposing an administrative penalty
under Section 1701.507.
(e) To the extent of any conflict between this section and
Section 143.089, Local Government Code, this section controls.
SECTION 2. (a) Not later than December 1, 2015, the Texas
Commission on Law Enforcement shall update forms as necessary to
comply with Section 1701.451, Occupations Code, as amended by this
Act.
(b) Section 1701.451, Occupations Code, as amended by this
Act, applies only to the hiring of a person by a law enforcement
agency that occurs on or after December 1, 2015. The hiring of a
person by a law enforcement agency that occurs before that date is
governed by the law in effect immediately before the effective date
of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.