Texas 2017 - 85th Regular

Texas House Bill HB1258 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1		-	85R21742 YDB-F
2	1		By: Clardy, Price, Thompson of Harris, H.B. No. 1258
3	2		Nevárez, Holland, et al.
4		-	Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1258:
5		-	By: Smithee C.S.H.B. No. 1258
6	3
7	4
8	5		A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
9	6		AN ACT
10	7		relating to information publicly available in a state court
11	8		document database; authorizing a fee.
12	9		BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
13	10		SECTION 1. Subchapter I, Chapter 51, Government Code, is
14	11		amended by adding Section 51.808 to read as follows:
15	12		Sec. 51.808. STATE COURT DOCUMENT DATABASE; INFORMATION
16	13		AVAILABLE; IMMUNITY. (a) The purpose of this section is to ensure
17	14		that advances in technology allowing the electronic transmission,
18	15		retrieval, and storage of court documents do not compromise the
19	16		integrity of official court records or violate the laws, rules, and
20	17		court orders requiring the nondisclosure of sensitive or
21	18		confidential information contained in the documents or in copies of
22	19		those documents that are stored in a state court document database
23	20		and accessible by the public.
24	21		(b) In this section:
25	22		(1) "Accessible by the public" related to a court
26	23		document in the state court document database means that a person,
27	24		other than a court clerk with whom the document was filed, a judge
28	25		with subject matter jurisdiction over the case, the judge's staff,
29	26		an attorney of record in the case, or a person who maintains or
30	27		operates the database, has access to the document through the
31	28		system.
32	29		(2) "State court document database" means a database
33	30		accessible by the public and established by the supreme court under
34	31		this section for storing documents filed with a court in this state.
35	32		(c) A person who establishes, maintains, or operates the
36	33		state court document database for the supreme court may allow
37	34		public access to a document filed with a court in this state and
38	35		included in the database only if:
39	36		(1) the database maintains each document included in a
40	37		manner that complies with federal and state laws and orders of the
41	38		court in which the document was filed related to confidentiality
42	39		and nondisclosure of information; and
43	40		(2) a copy of each page of a document stored in the
44	41		database clearly states that the document is an unofficial copy of a
45	42		court document.
46	43		(d) The supreme court may authorize the Office of Court
47	44		Administration of the Texas Judicial System to establish, operate,
48	45		and maintain the state court document database under this section.
49	46		The database may only include:
50	47		(1) court documents filed with a court on or after the
51	48		60th day following the date on which the Office of Court
52	49		Administration of the Texas Judicial System certifies to the
53	50		supreme court that the database is fully operational and complies
54	51		with this section; and
55	52		(2) any other documents authorized by the clerk of the
56	53		court to be maintained in the state court document database.
57	54		(e) The Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial
58	55		System shall collect a fee for each page or part of a page of a
59	56		document electronically accessed by a member of the public from the
60	57		state court document database and deliver the fees collected under
61	58		this section to the clerk of the court in which the document was
62	59		originally filed for deposit in the county general fund. The fee is
63		-	the amount set by rule by the supreme court after consultation with
64		-	court clerks.
	60	+	the amount set by rule by the supreme court through negotiated
	61	+	rulemaking, conducted in accordance with Chapter 2008 as if the
	62	+	supreme court were a state agency in the executive branch of state
	63	+	government, between court clerks and the supreme court.
65	64		(f) A person who establishes, maintains, or operates the
66	65		state court document database under this section must comply with
67	66		the laws, rules, and court orders related to sensitive data and
68	67		confidential documents that govern court documents in the custody
69	68		of a court clerk.
70	69		(g) A court clerk is not responsible for the management or
71	70		removal of documents from the state court document database and is
72	71		not liable for damages resulting from the release of court
73	72		documents if the clerk in good faith performs the duties as clerk as
74		-	provided by law and the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. A clerk
75		-	shows that the clerk acted in good faith when the clerk shows that a
76		-	reasonably prudent clerk, under the same or similar circumstances,
77		-	could have believed that the clerk's conduct was justified based on
78		-	the information the clerk possessed when the conduct occurred.
	73	+	provided by law and the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. The court
	74	+	clerk, the county in which the court is located, and the
	75	+	commissioners court of the county in which the court is located are
	76	+	immune from suit and from liability for the release or disclosure by
	77	+	a third party of information that is confidential or otherwise
	78	+	prohibited from disclosure by law, rule, or court order and that is
	79	+	accessed from the state database.
79	80		SECTION 2. Section 411.075(b), Government Code, is amended
80	81		to read as follows:
81	82		(b) Not later than 10 business days after receipt of
82	83		relevant criminal history record information contained in an order
83	84		or a copy of an order under Subsection (a), the department shall
84	85		seal any criminal history record information maintained by the
85	86		department that is the subject of the order. The department shall
86	87		also send all relevant criminal history record information
87	88		contained in the order or a copy of the order by certified mail,
88	89		return receipt requested, or secure electronic mail, electronic
89	90		transmission, or facsimile transmission to the Office of Court
90	91		Administration of the Texas Judicial System and to all:
91	92		(1) law enforcement agencies, jails or other detention
92	93		facilities, magistrates, courts, prosecuting attorneys,
93	94		correctional facilities, central state depositories of criminal
94	95		records, and other officials or agencies or other entities of this
95	96		state or of any political subdivision of this state;
96	97		(2) central federal depositories of criminal records
97	98		that there is reason to believe have criminal history record
98	99		information that is the subject of the order; and
99	100		(3) private entities that purchase criminal history
100	101		record information from the department or that otherwise are likely
101	102		to have criminal history record information that is subject to the
102	103		order.
103	104		SECTION 3. Section 3(c), Article 55.02, Code of Criminal
104	105		Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
105	106		(c) When the order of expunction is final, the clerk of the
106	107		court shall send a certified copy of the order to the Crime Records
107	108		Service of the Department of Public Safety, to the Office of Court
108	109		Administration of the Texas Judicial System, and to each official
109	110		or agency or other governmental entity of this state or of any
110	111		political subdivision of this state named in the order. The
111	112		certified copy of the order must be sent by secure electronic mail,
112	113		electronic transmission, or facsimile transmission or otherwise by
113	114		certified mail, return receipt requested. In sending the order to a
114	115		governmental entity named in the order, the clerk may elect to
115	116		substitute hand delivery for certified mail under this subsection,
116	117		but the clerk must receive a receipt for that hand-delivered order.
117	118		SECTION 4. (a) Not later than December 1, 2017, the Texas
118	119		Supreme Court shall adopt the rules, fees, and orders necessary to
119	120		implement the changes in law made by this Act.
120	121		(b) Except as otherwise provided by this Act, Section
121	122		51.808, Government Code, as added by this Act, applies to a court
122	123		document filed before, on, or after the effective date of this Act
123	124		unless a restriction on court documents filed before that date
124	125		would impair a contract entered before that date.
125	126		SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
126	127		a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
127	128		provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
128	129		Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
129	130		Act takes effect September 1, 2017.