Senate Bill 991
Senate Author: Hinojosa et al.
Effective: 9-1-23
House Sponsor: Leach
Senate Bill 991 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure and Government Code to require the Department of Public Safety to establish and maintain a central computerized crime laboratory portal for requesting crime laboratory records and for transferring those records among crime laboratories, state's attorneys, and parties authorized to access the records as part of discovery in a criminal action, including defendants and defense counsel. The bill requires mandatory participation in the portal for certain crime laboratories, subjects a noncompliant laboratory to disciplinary action, and revises provisions establishing disciplinary proceedings applicable to a crime laboratory or license holder being investigated by the Texas Forensic Science Commission.