Texas 2019 - 86th Regular

Texas House Bill HB842 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	86R6373 KJE-F
2	2	By: Hernandez H.B. No. 842
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to a central database containing information about
8	8	offenders who have committed certain violent offenses against
9	9	children or offenses involving family or dating violence.
10	10	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
11	11	SECTION 1. Article 42.015(a), Code of Criminal Procedure,
12	12	is amended to read as follows:
13	13	(a) In the trial of an offense under Title 5 [Section 20.02,
14	14	20.03, or 20.04], Penal Code, or an attempt, conspiracy, or
15	15	solicitation to commit one of those offenses, the judge shall make
16	16	an affirmative finding of fact and enter the affirmative finding in
17	17	the judgment in the case if the judge determines that the victim or
18	18	intended victim was younger than 17 years of age at the time of the
19	19	offense.
20	20	SECTION 2. Section 411.088(b), Government Code, is amended
21	21	to read as follows:
22	22	(b) The department may not charge for processing an
23	23	electronic inquiry, made through the use of the Internet, for
24	24	information described as public information under:
25	25	(1) Section 411.1355; or
26	26	(2) Article 62.005, Code of Criminal Procedure[, made
27	27	through the use of the Internet].
28	28	SECTION 3. Section 411.135(a), Government Code, is amended
29	29	to read as follows:
30	30	(a) Any person is entitled to obtain from the department:
31	31	(1) any information described as public information
32	32	under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, including, to the
33	33	extent available, a recent photograph of each person subject to
34	34	registration under that chapter; [and]
35	35	(2) criminal history record information maintained by
36	36	the department that relates to the conviction of or a grant of
37	37	deferred adjudication to a person for any criminal offense,
38	38	including arrest information that relates to the conviction or
39	39	grant of deferred adjudication; and
40	40	(3) any information described as public information
41	41	under Section 411.1355.
42	42	SECTION 4. Subchapter F, Chapter 411, Government Code, is
43	43	amended by adding Section 411.1355 to read as follows:
44	44	Sec. 411.1355. CENTRAL DATABASE OF OFFENDERS WHO HAVE
45	45	COMMITTED CERTAIN VIOLENT OFFENSES. (a) The department shall
46	46	maintain a computerized central database containing information
47	47	regarding persons who:
48	48	(1) on three or more occasions have been convicted of:
49	49	(A) an offense for which an affirmative finding
50	50	was made under Article 42.013 or 42.015, Code of Criminal
51	51	Procedure;
52	52	(B) an offense under Section 21.16, Penal Code;
53	53	or
54	54	(C) any combination of offenses described by
55	55	Paragraph (A) or (B); and
56	56	(2) were 17 years of age or older on the date at least
57	57	three of the offenses described by Subdivision (1) were committed.
58	58	(b) The information contained in the database is public
59	59	information, with the exception of any information:
60	60	(1) regarding the person's social security number,
61	61	driver's license number, or telephone number; or
62	62	(2) that would identify the victim of the offense.
63	63	(c) The database maintained by the department under this
64	64	section must contain, to the extent the information is available to
65	65	the department:
66	66	(1) the person's full name, each alias used by the
67	67	person, and the person's date of birth;
68	68	(2) a physical description and recent photograph of
69	69	the person;
70	70	(3) a list of offenses described by Subsection (a) for
71	71	which the person was convicted, the date of conviction for each
72	72	offense, and the punishment prescribed for each offense; and
73	73	(4) an indication as to whether the person was
74	74	discharged, placed on community supervision, or released on parole
75	75	or to mandatory supervision following the conviction for each
76	76	offense.
77	77	(d) The department shall permit a person whose name is
78	78	included in the database established under this section to petition
79	79	the department for removal of the person's name from the database,
80	80	and the department shall remove the person's name from the database
81	81	in response to the petition if:
82	82	(1) an order of expunction is issued under Chapter 55,
83	83	Code of Criminal Procedure, with respect to one of the offenses
84	84	described by Subsection (a), unless the person has three or more
85	85	other convictions for an offense described by that subsection; or
86	86	(2) during the seven-year period preceding the date of
87	87	the petition, the person is not convicted of an offense described by
88	88	Subsection (a).
89	89	(e) On the Internet website through which a person may
90	90	search the database described by this section, the department shall
91	91	include information regarding:
92	92	(1) the manner in which a person may petition the
93	93	department for removal of the person's name from the database;
94	94	(2) the circumstances under which the department will
95	95	grant the petition; and
96	96	(3) contact information for family violence
97	97	organizations.
98	98	(f) The department shall consult with a representative of a
99	99	statewide advocacy organization for issues related to family
100	100	violence regarding implementation of the database and the
101	101	information required to be included on the database website under
102	102	Subsection (e)(3).
103	103	SECTION 5. The central database required by Section
104	104	411.1355, Government Code, as added by this Act, must be designed
105	105	and implemented not later than January 1, 2020, and may only include
106	106	information concerning persons convicted of at least one offense
107	107	described by Subsection (a) of that section committed on or after
108	108	the effective date of this Act. For purposes of this section, an
109	109	offense was committed on or after the effective date of this Act if
110	110	each element of the offense occurred on or after that date.
111	111	SECTION 6. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
112	112	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
113	113	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
114	114	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
115	115	Act takes effect September 1, 2019.