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.