85R19117 JRR-F
By: Collier, Minjarez H.B. No. 557
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 557:
By: Moody C.S.H.B. No. 557
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the procedure for expunction of arrest records and
files for certain persons who are tried for an offense and
subsequently acquitted.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1, Article 55.02, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 1. At the request of the acquitted person [defendant]
and after notice to the state, or at the request of the attorney for
the state with the consent of the acquitted person, the trial court
presiding over the case in which the person [defendant] was
acquitted, if the trial court is a district court, or a district
court in the county in which the trial court is located shall enter
an order of expunction for a person entitled to expunction under
Article 55.01(a)(1)(A) not later than the 30th day after the date of
the acquittal. On [Upon] acquittal, the trial court shall advise
the acquitted person [defendant] of the right to expunction. The
party requesting the order of expunction [defendant] shall provide
to the district court all of the information required in a petition
for expunction under Section 2(b). The attorney for the acquitted
person [defendant] in the case in which the person [defendant] was
acquitted, if the person [defendant] was represented by counsel, or
the attorney for the state, if the person [defendant] was not
represented by counsel or if the attorney for the state requested
the order of expunction, shall prepare the order for the court's
signature.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to the expunction of arrest records and files related to a criminal
offense for which the trial of the offense begins on or after the
effective date of this Act. The expunction of arrest records and
files related to a criminal offense for which the trial of the
offense begins before the effective date of this Act is governed by
the law in effect on the date the trial begins, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.