Senate Bill 11 enacts a
number of provisions relating to homeland security and protection of the
public. Among other provisions, the bill amends the Code of Criminal Procedure
to:
- expand the list of offenses for which interception of wire,
oral, or electronic communications may be authorized to include unlawful
restraint, kidnapping, trafficking of persons, and laundering of money from
crimes against persons
- set forth provisions regarding the collection of
information relating to a criminal street gang, modify the criteria used
to calculate the time period after which information from a criminal
street gang intelligence database must be removed, and allow a person or
parent or guardian of a child to request criminal information that has
been collected or is maintained by a law enforcement agency on that person
or child
The bill amends the Penal Code to:
- revise provisions relating to the offense of
trafficking of persons, including changing the conditions under which such
an offense is elevated from a felony of the second degree to a felony of
the first degree
The bill amends the Civil Practice and Remedies Code to:
- require an establishment that rents overnight lodging
to the public that is required to execute a bond to abate a common
nuisance relating to prostitution to post in a conspicuous place near the
room rate an operating toll-free telephone number of a nationally
recognized information and referral hotline for victims of human
trafficking
The bill also requires the attorney general and the Health
and Human Services Commission to prepare and issue certain reports relating to
the needs of victims of human trafficking.
The bill amends the Government Code to:
- designate emergency management directors of cities and counties
- revise provisions of current law relating to mutual aid
assistance between local government entities and establish the Texas
Statewide Mutual Aid System to provide integrated statewide mutual aid
response capability between local government entities without a written
mutual aid agreement
- authorize leave not to exceed 10 days per fiscal year
for up to 350 state employees who hold a federal amateur radio station
license to participate in specialized disaster relief services; and add a
member of a state or federally authorized Urban Search and Rescue Team to
the list of public officers and employees who are entitled to paid leave
for up to 15 workdays when engaged in certain training or duty and who are
entitled to be restored to their previous job position when relieved from
such duty
- establish procedures for designating private emergency
organizations that may operate emergency vehicles during a declared
disaster and for designating such vehicles
- add to the list of elements that may be included in the
comprehensive state emergency plan prepared by the Governor's Division of Emergency
Management (GDEM) provisions relating to the education and training of
local officials on activation of the Emergency Alert System
- require certain appointed public officers to complete a
course of emergency management training provided or approved by the GDEM
not later than the 180th day after they take office
- specify that certain aspects of a local or
interjurisdictional emergency management plan take effect immediately
after a local state of disaster is declared
- provide that a declaration of local disaster may
include a restriction on the sale or use of fireworks beyond other
restrictions authorized by law
- establish the Border Security Council to develop and
recommend performance standards, reporting requirements, and other
procedures to ensure that funds allocated by the governor's office for
purposes related to security at or near the border with Mexico are used properly
and that recipients of funds are accountable for their proper use
The bill amends the Education Code to:
·
require a school
district to report the results of a security audit to the Texas School Safety
Center (TSSC) in the manner required by the center
·
add the
commissioner of higher education to the TSSC board of directors
·
authorize an
institution of higher education to avail itself of certain services of the TSSC
relating to development of an all-hazards emergency operations plan and safety
training
·
authorize the
governing board of a private institution of higher education to employ and
commission peace officers, rather than campus security personnel, and to
authorize certain private institutions of higher education to enter into mutual
assistance agreements with a municipality under which the peace officers of one
party to the agreement assist peace officers of the other party
The bill amends the Health and Safety Code to:
- require the Texas Department of Health (TDH) to
maintain a registry of persons who receive certain immunizations to
prepare for or in response to a disaster, terrorist attack, or certain
other emergencies, to track adverse reactions to these immunizations, and to
consult with public health departments and health care providers to identify
and prepare adult immunizations that may be necessary in such emergencies
- authorize TDH or a health authority to order a group of
five or more individuals exposed to or infected with a communicable
disease to implement control measures to prevent the introduction,
transmission, and spread of the disease in the state and set forth
provisions for the isolation or quarantine of a person with a communicable
disease and issuance of protective custody orders for the person
The bill amends the Transportation Code to:
- exempt an authorized emergency vehicle from payment of
a toll regardless of whether it is responding to an emergency
- require the Texas Department of Transportation to
develop and maintain a secure, real-time database of information on
vehicles to which dealers and converters have affixed temporary cardboard
registration tags and on persons to whom temporary buyer's tags are issued;
further limit the reproduction, purchase, sale, or use of temporary dealer
tags; and establish offenses for unauthorized production, reproduction,
purchase, sale, or display of a temporary tag
- authorize the Department of Public Safety to issue an
enhanced driver's license or personal identification certificate to
certain applicants for the purpose of crossing the border between Texas
and Mexico
Provisions of Senate Bill 11 amending the
Government Code in regard to emergency management directors and mutual aid
assistance are effective June 6, 2007; all other provisions of the bill are
effective September 1, 2007.