By: Johnson of Dallas, Price, H.B. No. 245
Thompson of Harris, White, Phillips
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain reporting requirements for law enforcement
agencies; providing a civil penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Articles 2.139(c) and (e), Code of Criminal
Procedure, as added by Chapter 516 (H.B. 1036), Acts of the 84th
Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, are amended to read as follows:
(c) Not later than the 30th day after the date of an
officer-involved injury or death, the law enforcement agency
employing an officer involved in the incident must complete and
submit a written or electronic report, using the form created under
Subsection (b), to the office of the attorney general [and, if the
agency maintains an Internet website, post a copy of the report on
the agency's website]. The report must include all information
described in Subsection (b).
(e) Not later than March [February] 1 of each year, the
office of the attorney general shall submit a report regarding all
officer-involved injuries or deaths that occurred during the
preceding year to the governor and the standing legislative
committees with primary jurisdiction over criminal justice
matters. The report must include:
(1) the total number of officer-involved injuries or
deaths;
(2) a summary of the reports submitted to the office
under this article; and
(3) a copy of each report submitted to the office under
this article.
SECTION 2. Articles 2.1395(b) and (c), Code of Criminal
Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
(b) Not later than the 30th day after the date of the
occurrence of an incident described by Subsection (a), the law
enforcement agency employing the injured or deceased officer at the
time of the incident must complete and submit a written or
electronic report, using the form created under that subsection, to
the office of the attorney general [and, if the agency maintains an
Internet website, post a copy of the report on the agency's
website]. The report must include all information described in
Subsection (a).
(c) Not later than March [February] 1 of each year, the
office of the attorney general shall submit a report regarding all
incidents described by Subsection (a) that occurred during the
preceding year to the governor and the standing legislative
committees with primary jurisdiction over criminal justice
matters. The report must include:
(1) the total number of incidents that occurred;
(2) a summary of the reports submitted to the office
under this article; and
(3) a copy of each report submitted to the office under
this article.
SECTION 3. Chapter 2, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Article 2.13951 to read as follows:
Art. 2.13951. NOTICE OF VIOLATION OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
FOR CERTAIN INJURIES OR DEATHS; CIVIL PENALTY. (a) The office of
the attorney general shall conduct an investigation after receiving
a report or other information that a law enforcement agency failed
to submit a report required by Article 2.139 or 2.1395. If the
office determines that the law enforcement agency failed to submit
the report, the office shall provide notice of the failure to the
agency. The notice must summarize the applicable reporting
requirement and state that the agency may be subject to a civil
penalty as provided by Subsection (b) or (c), as applicable.
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), a law enforcement
agency that fails to submit the required report on or before the
seventh day after the date of receiving notice under Subsection (a)
is liable for a civil penalty in the amount of $1,000 for each day
after the seventh day that the agency fails to submit the report.
(c) Beginning on the day after the date of receiving notice
under Subsection (a), a law enforcement agency that, in the
five-year period preceding the date the agency received the notice,
has been liable for a civil penalty under Subsection (b) or this
subsection is liable for a civil penalty for each day the agency
fails to submit the required report. The amount of a civil penalty
under this subsection is $10,000 for the first day and $1,000 for
each additional day that the agency fails to submit the report.
(d) The attorney general may sue to collect a civil penalty
under this article.
(e) A civil penalty collected under this article shall be
deposited to the credit of the compensation to victims of crime fund
established under Subchapter B, Chapter 56.
SECTION 4. Article 2.139, Code of Criminal Procedure, as
added by Chapter 1124 (H.B. 3791), Acts of the 84th Legislature,
Regular Session, 2015, is redesignated as Article 2.1396, Code of
Criminal Procedure.
SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a report required to be submitted on or after the effective date of
this Act. A report required to be submitted before the effective
date of this Act is subject to the law in effect at the time the
report was required to be submitted, and the former law is continued
in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 6. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
over another Act of the 85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017,
relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
codes.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.