BILL ANALYSIS H.B. 1079 By: West 5-3-95 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND Under current law (Section 37.09, Penal Code), a person commits an offense if, knowing that an investigation or official proceeding is pending or in progress, he tampers with or fabricates physical evidence. The law makes no provision, however, for those instances when an individual, knowing an offense has been committed, tampers with or fabricates physical evidence, after the offense has been committed but prior to the point at which an investigation or official proceeding is legally considered to have been pending or in progress. As it is now, an individual can purposefully and deliberately inhibit or foil a related investigation and/or subsequent prosecution of that offense by disturbing, in some form or fashion, the physical evidence. PURPOSE If enacted, H.B. 1079 would help protect the integrity and goodness of any materials which eventually could be considered physical evidence from the point in time when the offense occurs and the point in time--now covered by the law--at which a related investigation or official proceeding legally begins. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 37.09, Penal Code (TAMPERING WITH OR FABRICATING PHYSICAL EVIDENCE), by adding Subsection (d) as follows: classifies as an offense the act of altering, destroying, or concealing any record, document, or thing with intent to impair its verity, legibility, or availability as evidence. SECTION 2. (a) Change in law made by this Act applies only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of the Act. (b) Makes effect of the Act prospective. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1995. SECTION 4. Emergency clause. SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION HB 1079 was considered by the full committee in a public hearing on May 1, 1995. The following person testified for the bill: Al Shore, representing himself. The bill was left pending. HB 1079 was considered by the full committee in a public hearing on May 3, 1995. HB 1079 was reported favorably without amendment, with the recommendation that it do pass and be printed and be sent to the Committee on Local and Consent Calendars, by a record vote of 5 ayes, 0 nays, 0 pnv, and 4 absent.