89R14334 JCG-D
By: Hughes S.B. No. 1659
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to requiring a warrant to search certain location
information purchased by a governmental entity from a data broker
or electronic personal data tracker.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 18.02(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) A search warrant may be issued to search for and seize:
(1) property acquired by theft or in any other manner
which makes its acquisition a penal offense;
(2) property specially designed, made, or adapted for
or commonly used in the commission of an offense;
(3) arms and munitions kept or prepared for the
purposes of insurrection or riot;
(4) weapons prohibited by the Penal Code;
(5) gambling devices or equipment, altered gambling
equipment, or gambling paraphernalia;
(6) obscene materials kept or prepared for commercial
distribution or exhibition, subject to the additional rules set
forth by law;
(7) a drug, controlled substance, immediate
precursor, chemical precursor, or other controlled substance
property, including an apparatus or paraphernalia kept, prepared,
or manufactured in violation of the laws of this state;
(8) any property the possession of which is prohibited
by law;
(9) implements or instruments used in the commission
of a crime;
(10) property or items, except the personal writings
by the accused, constituting evidence of an offense or constituting
evidence tending to show that a particular person committed an
offense;
(11) persons;
(12) contraband subject to forfeiture under Chapter 59
of this code;
(13) electronic customer data held in electronic
storage, including the contents of and records and other
information related to a wire communication or electronic
communication held in electronic storage; [or]
(14) a cellular telephone or other wireless
communications device, subject to Article 18.0215; or
(15) location information described by Article
18B.372(a).
SECTION 2. Article 18B.001, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subdivisions (2-a), (7-a), and (10-a) and
amending Subdivision (9-b) to read as follows:
(2-a) "Data broker" means a business entity who for
compensation collects, processes, or transfers personal data that
the entity did not collect directly from the person linked or
linkable to the personal data. The term does not include an
electronic communications service or a remote computing service.
(7-a) "Electronic personal data tracker" means a
business entity that directly collects, with or without the user's
consent, the personal data of a user of an electronic application or
program or a user of an Internet website through the user's
interaction with the application, program, or website or an
interaction that occurs automatically between the user's device and
the application, program, or website. The term includes a third
party who collects the personal data of the user under an agreement
with the business entity, regardless of whether the third party
administers or maintains the application, program, or website.
(9-b) "Location information" means data, records, or
other information that:
(A) is created by or accessible to a provider of
an electronic communications service, [or] a provider of a remote
computing service, a data broker, or an electronic personal data
tracker; and
(B) may be used to identify the previous or
current geographic physical location of a communication device,
including the [current,] real-time[,] or prospective geographic
physical location of a communication device.
(10-a) "Personal data" means any information that is
linked or reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable
person. The term includes:
(A) pseudonymous data when the information is
used by a controller or processor in conjunction with additional
information that reasonably links the information to an identified
or identifiable person; and
(B) location information.
SECTION 3. The heading to Subchapter G-1, Chapter 18B, Code
of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER G-1. REQUIRED DISCLOSURE OF PROSPECTIVE LOCATION
INFORMATION
SECTION 4. Chapter 18B, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subchapter H-1 to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER H-1. SEARCH OF CERTAIN PROSPECTIVE OR HISTORICAL
LOCATION INFORMATION PURCHASED FROM DATA BROKER OR ELECTRONIC
PERSONAL DATA TRACKER
Art. 18B.371. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Governmental entity" means:
(A) an agency, department, commission, bureau,
board, office, council, or other entity that is in any branch of
state government and that is created by the constitution or a
statute of this state, including a university system or an
institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003,
Education Code;
(B) a political subdivision of this state,
including a municipality, county, or special-purpose district or
authority; or
(C) a federal agency.
(2) "Purchase" includes access to location
information obtained by the exchange of anything of value.
Art. 18B.372. WARRANT REQUIRED FOR SEARCH OF CERTAIN
LOCATION INFORMATION PURCHASED FROM DATA BROKER OR ELECTRONIC
PERSONAL DATA TRACKER. (a) A governmental entity that has
purchased location information from a data broker or an electronic
personal data tracker may not search that location information
without first obtaining a warrant under this subchapter if any of
the location information may relate to a United States citizen.
(b) Subsection (a) applies to the search of location
information described by that subsection, regardless of whether the
location information is created before or after the issuance of the
warrant.
(c) An authorized peace officer may file an application for
a warrant under this subchapter with a district judge in the
judicial district in which the peace officer's employing law
enforcement agency is headquartered.
(d) The application must be supported by the sworn affidavit
required by Article 18.01(b).
Art. 18B.373. ISSUANCE OF WARRANT. (a) On the filing of an
application for a warrant under this subchapter, a district judge
may issue the warrant permitting an authorized peace officer to
search location information described by Article 18B.372(a).
(b) A warrant may not be issued under this article unless
the sworn affidavit required by Article 18.01(b) provides
sufficient and substantial facts to establish probable cause that
the search of the location information will:
(1) produce evidence of an offense under
investigation; or
(2) result in the apprehension of a fugitive from
justice.
Art. 18B.374. DURATION AND SEALING FOR PROSPECTIVE LOCATION
INFORMATION. (a) If a search for which a warrant is required under
this subchapter may involve location information created after the
issuance of the warrant, the warrant expires not later than the 60th
day after the date the warrant was issued, unless the district judge
provides a shorter expiration period.
(b) The authorized peace officer may apply for and obtain an
extension of the expiration period described by Subsection (a) from
the court before the warrant expires. Each extension granted under
this subsection may not exceed a period of 60 days.
(c) Article 18.011 does not apply to an affidavit presented
under Article 18.01(b) for the issuance of a warrant under this
subchapter. A district court that issues a warrant described by
Subsection (a) shall order the warrant and the application for the
warrant sealed and may not unseal the warrant and application until
after the warrant expires.
Art. 18B.375. CERTAIN EVIDENCE NOT ADMISSIBLE. The state
may not use as evidence in a criminal proceeding any information
obtained through the search of location information described by
Article 18B.372(a) unless a warrant authorizing the search is
obtained under this subchapter before the search is conducted.
Art. 18B.376. OTHER REMEDIES FOR VIOLATION OF SUBCHAPTER.
A governmental entity that searches location information described
by Article 18B.372(a) in violation of this subchapter shall:
(1) notify each United States citizen whose location
information was included in the results of the search; and
(2) for each person described by Subdivision (1),
provide to the person a copy of the location information resulting
from the search that relates to the person and destroy that location
information.
SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a search of location information described by Article 18B.373(a),
Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by this Act, that is conducted
on or after the effective date of this Act. A search of location
information conducted before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law in effect on the date the search was conducted,
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.