Enrolled Bill Summary

Senate Bill 11	Senate Author:  Carona
Effective:  See below	House Sponsor:  Corte, Frank

            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.