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House Bill 2730 |
House Author: Kolkhorst et al. |
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Effective: See below |
Senate Sponsor: Hinojosa |
House Bill 2730 amends provisions of the Agriculture Code, Code of Criminal Procedure, Education Code, Family Code, Government Code, Health and Safety Code, Labor Code, Occupations Code, Penal Code, Transportation Code, and Water Code relating to the continuation and functions of the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Texas Private Security Board. In addition to across-the-board sunset provisions, the bill continues DPS and the board until September 1, 2015, and sets forth provisions relating to the duties and operation of DPS and the board.
Article 1 of the bill makes changes to the vehicle inspection program by establishing that the program is managed by a program director, setting forth the director's duties, and requiring the advisory committee for the program to hold a meeting at least once each quarter.
Article 2 replaces the division of emergency management in the office of the governor with the Texas Division of Emergency Management. The bill establishes that the Texas Division of Emergency Management is a division of DPS, establishes additional responsibilities for the division, and provides that the division is managed by a chief appointed by the public safety director of DPS. The bill adds the speaker of the house of representatives or the speaker's designee and the lieutenant governor or the lieutenant governor's designee to the membership of the Homeland Security Council.
Article 3 changes the procedure for compelling the attendance of a breath test technician at a hearing relating to the administrative suspension of a driver's license for failure to pass a test for intoxication.
Article 4 amends the Private Security Act to allow the Texas Private Security Board to issue endorsements and requires the board to adopt rules necessary to comply with licensing provisions relating to the consequences of a criminal conviction. The bill amends provisions regarding the following activities regulated by the act: licensing, registration, and other fees; license classifications; application restrictions for a license, certificate of registration, endorsement, or security officer commission; and registration and endorsement requirements. The bill authorizes the board to develop and administer a jurisprudence examination to determine the knowledge of an endorsement applicant regarding the act, board rules, and other applicable state laws. The bill makes provisions of the act inapplicable to employees performing investigative services that would otherwise be subject to the act for entities regulated by certain state agencies. Article 4B sets forth provisions relating to an applicant for a security services contractor license, the form of a license issued under the act, the termination of a manager of a license holder's business, the recordkeeping of a license holder, the concealment of a firearm applicable to a personal protection officer, requirements for applications regulated by the act, subpoena authority of DPS in a complaint investigation, and deceptive trade practices under the act. The bill provides for the inapplicability of certain criminal offenses to personal protection officers.
Article 5 requires the Public Safety Commission to establish the office of inspector general, in place of the office of internal affairs, to prevent, detect, and investigate serious breaches of departmental policy, fraud, and abuse of office.
Article 6 amends provisions relating to the voluntary donation of a DPS employee's accrued compensatory time or annual leave to a legislative leave pool, the disclosure by DPS of information regarding individuals licensed to carry concealed handguns and individuals certified as qualified handgun instructors, and the mandatory physical fitness programs for law enforcement officers that each law enforcement agency must adopt. The bill authorizes DPS to establish a driver record monitoring pilot program and to enter into a contract with an eligible person to provide driver record monitoring services and certain information from DPS's driver's license records to the person, and makes it a Class B misdemeanor for a contracted person to violate the terms of the contract. The bill creates the state jail felony offense of conspiring to manufacture a counterfeit driver's license or personal identification certificate, enhanced to a felony of the third degree if the actor is a public servant. The bill specifies the applicability of provisions relating to a criminal history record information review of certain school district contract employees.
Article 7 changes the name of the unsolved crimes investigation team to the unsolved crimes investigation program and makes employment in the program available only to a peace officer of the Texas Rangers of the rank of sergeant or higher. Article 8 requires the Texas Division of Emergency Management to coordinate with the Texas Department of Transportation to establish additional methods for disseminating emergency public service messages to motorists. Article 9 authorizes DPS to obtain and use criminal history record information maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation or DPS that relates to applicants for certain permits, certifications, or registrations issued under the Health and Safety Code or Transportation Code and provides restrictions on the release or disclosure of the information. Article 9A amends provisions relating to the disclosure of criminal history record information regarding public school employees obtained by the State Board for Educator Certification, Texas Education Agency (TEA), and local and regional educational entities.
Article 10 requires the bureau of identification and records to record data and maintain a state database for a computerized criminal history record system and computerized juvenile justice information system. The bill amends provisions relating to the DPS criminal history clearinghouse and specifies that criminal history record information obtained by certain state entities may be released or disclosed with the consent of the person who is the subject of the information.
Article 11 amends provisions regarding the licensing of persons to carry a concealed handgun. The bill modifies the offenses for which a person is considered convicted for purposes of license eligibility and modifies the documents required to be submitted to obtain a new, modified, or renewal license. The bill requires DPS to establish a procedure to indicate on a license a person's status as a qualified handgun instructor, provides an exemption to the requirement that DPS revoke a concealed handgun license in regard to a dishonored or reversed application fee, and requires rather than authorizes DPS and certain judicial entities to suspend a concealed handgun license under certain circumstances. The bill authorizes a qualified handgun instructor to submit to DPS a written recommendation for disapproval of the application for a concealed handgun license, or renewal or modification of such a license, accompanied by an affidavit and requires DPS to ensure that certain applicants may renew a qualified handgun certification online. The bill repeals provisions requiring a concealed handgun license applicant to request application materials and requiring DPS to develop and issue handgun proficiency certificates.
Article 12 adds the Less Tears More Years Act. The bill requires a school district to consider offering a driver education and traffic safety course each school year and authorizes the district to conduct and charge a fee for the course or to contract with a licensed driver education school to conduct the course. The bill sets forth driver education course requirements regarding specified hours of behind-the-wheel instruction and observation instruction for students. The bill amends the Transportation Code to require DPS to collect and publish data regarding collisions of students taught by certain entities that offer driver education courses and to require DPS and TEA to enter into a memorandum of understanding under which DPS may access TEA's electronic enrollment records to verify a student's enrollment in a public school for license renewal purposes. The bill modifies provisions relating to the fees and expiration dates of a provisional license and instruction permit, and the time periods during which minors are prohibited from operating a motor vehicle, motorcycle, or moped.
Article 12A removes the failure to display a concealed handgun license as grounds for suspension of the license and the Class B misdemeanor offense for a person who fails to display a license after such a suspension.
Article 13 authorizes applicable persons who enter Texas as new residents to operate a motor vehicle in Texas for no more than 90 days, rather than 30 days, after the date on which they enter Texas. The bill requires DPS by rule to establish a system for identifying unique addresses that are submitted in driver's license or personal identification certificate applications in a frequency or number that casts doubt on whether the addresses are the actual addresses where the applicant resides and prohibits DPS from issuing a license or certificate to a person who has not established a domicile in Texas.
Article 13A requires DPS to establish a procedure for a federal judge, a state judge, or the spouse of a federal or state judge who holds a driver's license to omit the license holder's residence address on the license and to include, in lieu of that address, the street address of the courthouse in which the license holder or spouse serves.
Article 14 requires DPS to participate in an inmate identification verification pilot program for the purpose of issuing driver's licenses and personal identification certificates to inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and requires an inmate to provide supplemental verified documents with an offender identification card or similar form of identification as satisfactory proof of identity in regard to an application for an original or commercial driver's license.
Article 15 imposes additional requirements and restrictions on DPS regarding the notification and collection of driver's license surcharges, requires DPS to waive all applicable surcharges for a person who is indigent, and requires DPS to establish a procedure to provide for the deduction of driver's license surcharge points for each year that a person has not accumulated such points. Article 15A creates an exception to the presumption that a motor vehicle operator who does not exhibit evidence of financial responsibility is in violation of the financial responsibility requirement.
Article 16 includes the offense of driving while intoxicated with a child passenger among the offenses a conviction of which results in an automatic driver's license suspension, and it raises from $50 to $100 the reinstatement fee for a license suspended in relation to certain intoxication offenses. Article 17 requires earlier notification to DPS and other applicable persons of certain convictions, forfeitures of bail, or adjudications in regard to certain motor vehicle offenses or violations.
Article 18 disqualifies a person from driving a commercial motor vehicle for life if the person uses a motor vehicle in the commission of certain federal offenses that involve the transportation, concealment, or harboring of an alien. The bill requires a juvenile court to order DPS to suspend or deny issuance of a child's driver's license or permit if the court finds that the child has engaged in conduct that violates a penal law of Texas or the United States involving a severe form of trafficking in persons.
Article 20 amends provisions relating to administrative fines and fees for parking violations in the Capitol Complex. Article 21 requires the commissioners court of certain counties to establish a local data advisory board that must prepare and submit to DPS a data reporting improvement plan concerning the improvement of the county's disposition completeness percentage. The bill adds additional recipients to those required to receive DPS's annual report regarding the level of reporting by local jurisdictions concerning the submission of arrest and disposition information and requires the report to contain a disposition completeness percentage for each county in Texas.
Article 22 adds provisions, set to expire September 1, 2011, requiring the director of DPS, the executive director of the Texas State Board of Pharmacy, and the executive director of the Texas Medical Board or those directors' designees to meet as an interagency council to develop a transition plan for the orderly transfer from DPS to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy of certain records and regulatory functions relating to dispensing controlled substances by prescription under the Texas Controlled Substances Act.
House Bill 2730 takes effect September 1, 2009, except for Articles 7, 9, 10, and 13, which take effect June 19, 2009, and Article 15, which takes effect September 1, 2011.