BILL ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 2592 By: Hochberg 05-03-95 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND Currently, five state boards, including the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners, the Texas State Board of Podiatry Examiners, the State Board of Dental Examiners, the State Board of Pharmacy, and the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, are required to provide monthly to the Department of Public Safety through electronic means a list of all their licensees so that the department can perform a computer match of the list against the convictions maintained in its computerized criminal history system. If the department discovers a match between the list and the convictions maintained in the system, they must report those matches to the board. No other agencies are required to perform this monthly comparison and the fees assessed by the department for performing the computer matches have prohibited several of the boards from complying with the statute. Furthermore, a monthly computer match is not necessary; much of the information received on a month by month basis is redundant. PURPOSE The purpose of this legislation is to expand the list of agencies who may provide a list of their licensees to the department for comparison against their computerized criminal history system, to make the provision of that list voluntary, and to require that an agency may not more than quarterly provide a list of licensees to the department for comparison. This legislation will also authorize the department to establish a schedule for the voluntary provision of the lists in order to balance its workload and does not permit the department to charge or assess a fee against the agency for performing the computer match. 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 Article 60.061, Code of Criminal Procedure as follows: Subsection (a) includes in the list of agencies currently providing to the Department of Public Safety through electronic means a list of each person licensed by the agency any state agency entitled to receive criminal history record information under Subchapter F, Chapter 411, Government Code, and any agency that may take disciplinary action against a licensee for engaging in a criminal act. The section also states that the agencies who opt to provide the list to the department may do so no more often than quarterly. Subsection (b) authorizes the department of Public Safety to establish a schedule for the voluntary provision of the lists in order to balance the department's workload. Subsection (c) deletes the requirement that the department perform at least monthly the computer match of licensing lists sent by state agencies against the convictions maintained in the computerized criminal history system and replaces "period of probation" with "period of community supervision". Subsection (d) conforms the reference to the open records law to Chapter 552, Government Code, which is current law. Subsection (e) states that the department may not charge or assess a fee to an agency for performing the computer match. Section 2: Subsection (a) conforms the sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure regarding criminal history searches to changes in the law made by Section 38, Chapter 790, and Section 2, Chapter 1025, Acts of the 73rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1993. Subsection (b) repeals Section 38, Chapter 790, and Section 2, Chapter 1025, Acts of the 73rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1993. Subsection (c) states that this Act prevails over another Act of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session, 1995 that relates to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted codes. Section 3: Effective date. Section 4: Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE There are no substantive changes between the original and the substitute. The substitute is simply numbered and lettered differently than the original. SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION HB 2592 was considered by the committee in a public hearing on May 2, 1995. The following persons testified on the bill: David Gavin, representing the Texas DPS. A substitute was considered by the committee. The substitute was adopted without objection. The bill was reported favorably as substituted with the recommendation that it do pass and be printed by a record vote of 6 ayes, 0 nays, 0 pnv, and 3 absent.