BILL ANALYSIS


                                                     C.S.S.B. 267
                                                      By: Shapiro
                                                 Criminal Justice
                                                          3-23-95
                                   Committee Report (Substituted)
BACKGROUND

Currently, sex offenders are responsible for registering with the
Department of Public Safety as a condition of community
supervision, deferred adjudication or parole.  The Department of
Public Safety then notifies the law enforcement authorities in the
county or city where the offender plans to live.  Private citizens
have no prior knowledge when a sex offender moves into the
community, and do not have access to any of the sex offender
registration information.

PURPOSE

As proposed, C.S.S.B. 267 requires registration of sex offenders
and public notice of their residence prior to release in a
community; creates offenses and provides penalties.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or
agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.     Amends Sections 1(3) and (5), Article 6252-13c.1,
V.T.C.S., to redefine "penal institution" and "reportable
conviction or adjudication."

SECTION 2.     Amends Section 2, Article 6252-13c.1, V.T.C.S., by
amending Subsections (a) and (b), and adding Subsections (d) and
(e), as follows:

     (a)  Requires a person who has a reportable conviction or
     adjudication to register or, if the person is a person for
     whom registration is completed under this article, verify
     registration with the local law enforcement authority
     (authority) in any municipality where the person resides or
     intends to reside for more than seven days.  Makes
     nonsubstantive and conforming changes.
     
     (b)  Requires the Department of Public Safety (department) to
     provide the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Texas
     Youth Commission, the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission,
     each authority, county jail, and court with a form for persons
     required to register.  Sets forth the required contents of the
     form.
     
     (d)  Requires a person who is required to complete the
     registration form to verify the information to the applicable
     authority.  Requires the person to submit proof of identity
     and residence before the authority gives the registration form
     to the person for verification.  Requires the person to verify
     the information by signing the form, making any necessary
     corrections before signing the form.
     
     (e)  Sets forth the required actions to be taken by a person
     who does not move to an intended residence by the end of the
     seventh day after the date on which the person is released on
     community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision, or on
     the date the person leaves a previous residence.
     
SECTION 3.     Amends Section 3, Article 6252-13c.1, V.T.C.S., as
follows:

     Sec. 3.  PRERELEASE NOTIFICATION.  (a)  Sets forth the
     procedures an officer of the penal institution is required to
     follow regarding a person who is subject to registration and
     is to be released.
     
     (b)  Requires an official of the penal institution to send
       the person's completed registration form to the department
       and to certain authorities within seven days of the release
       of a person who is required to register under this article.
       
       (c)  Makes conforming changes.
       
       (d)  Requires the pardons and paroles division of the Texas
       Department of Criminal Justice or a community supervision
       and corrections department to conduct the prerelease
       notification and registration requirements on the date a
       person who has a reportable conviction is placed under
       supervision.
       
       (e)  Requires the authority to verify the age of the victim
       and the basis on which the person is subject to registration
       under this article.  Requires the authority, if the victim
       is a child younger than 17 years of age and the basis on
       which the person is subject to registration is not an
       adjudication of delinquent conduct or a deferred
       adjudication and is not a conviction for an offense under
       Section 25.02, Penal Code, to immediately publish notice, in
       English and Spanish, in at least one newspaper of general
       circulation and provide notice to the superintendent of
       public schools that a person subject to registration intends
       to reside within the district.  Requires the authority to
       publish a duplicate notice in the newspaper, during the week
       immediately following the week of initial publication.
       
       (f)  Sets forth the specific contents of the required
       notice.
       
       (g)  Requires the authority to include in the notice to the
       superintendent any information the authority deems necessary
       to protect the public, except certain specified information.
       
       SECTION 4.   Amends Section 4, Article 6252-13c.1, V.T.C.S., as
follows:

     Sec. 4.  CHANGE OF ADDRESS.  (a)  Requires a person who
     intends to change address and is required to register, to
     report in person to the authority with whom the person last
     registered and to the community supervision and corrections
     department officer or the parole officer supervising the
     person and provide the new address and anticipated move date.
     
     (b)  Makes conforming changes.
       
       (c)  Requires a person who moves to another state with a
       registration requirement for sex offenders to register with
       the law enforcement agency designated by that state to
       receive registration information within a specified period.
       
       (d)  Makes a conforming change.
       
       (e)  Sets forth the requirements if a person who reports to
       an authority does not move before the anticipated date or
       does not move to the new address.
       
       (f)  Sets forth requirements of the authority if a person
       moves to another municipality.
       
       (g)-(i)  Make conforming changes.
       
       SECTION 5.   Amends Article 6252-13c.1, V.T.C.S., by adding Section
4A, as follows:

     Sec. 4A.  REMEDIES RELATED TO PUBLIC NOTICE.  Authorizes a
     person subject to registration under this article to petition
     the district court for injunctive relief to restrain a local
     law enforcement authority from publishing notice in a
     newspaper as required by Section 3 or Section 4 of this
     article.  Authorizes the court to issue a temporary
     restraining order under this section before notice is served
     and a hearing is held on the matter.  Authorizes the court to
     grant any injunctive relief warranted by the facts, including
     a restraining order or a temporary or permanent injunction, if
     the person subject to registration under this article proves
     by a preponderance of the evidence specific facts indicating
     that newspaper publication under Section 3 or Section 4 of
     this article would place the person's health and well-being in
     immediate danger.
     
SECTION 6.     Amends Section 5, Article 6252-13c.1, V.T.C.S., as
follows:

     Sec. 5.  New heading: CENTRAL DATABASE; PUBLIC INFORMATION. 
     (a)  Requires the department to maintain a computerized
     database containing registration information.
     
     (b)  Provides that the database information is public
       information; except the person's photograph, or certain
       other information.
       
       (c)  Requires a local law enforcement authority to release
       public information to any person who submits a written
       request.  Authorizes the authority to charge the person a
       fee not to exceed the amount reasonably necessary to cover
       the administrative costs associated with the authority's
       release of information to the person under this subsection. 
       Deletes existing Subsections (a) and (b).
       
SECTION 7.     Amends Article 6252-13c.1, V.T.C.S., by adding
Section 5A, as follows:

     Sec. 5A.  IMMUNITY FOR RELEASE OF PUBLIC INFORMATION.  (a) 
     Authorizes the department, a penal institution, or an
     authority to release public information regarding a person
     required to register.
     
     (b)  Grants immunity to an individual, agency, entity or
       authority from liability for damages arising from conduct
       authorized by this section.
       
       (c)  Provides that the release or withholding of information
       by an officer of an agency, is a discretionary act.
       
SECTION 8.     Amends Section 8(a), Article 6252-13c.1, V.T.C.S.,
by adding Subdivision (C), to make this article applicable only to
a reportable conviction or adjudication occurring on or after
September 1, 1995, if the conviction is for an offense described
under this article.

SECTION 9.     Amends Section 1, Article 42.01, Code of Criminal
Procedure, to include in the information a judgment should reflect,
among others, in the event of conviction of an offense for which
registration as a sex offender is required under Article 6252-13c.1, V.T.C.S., a statement that the registration requirement of
that article applies to the defendant and a statement of the age of
the victim of the offense.

SECTION 10.    Amends Section 11, Article 42.12, Code of Criminal
Procedure, by amending and revising Subsection (a), and adding
Subsection (e), as follows:

     (a)  Establishes reasonable conditions a judge is authorized
     to impose of community supervision.
     
     (e)  Requires a judge granting community supervision to a
     defendant required to register as a sex offender under Article
     6252-13c.1, V.T.C.S., to require the registration as a
     condition of community supervision.
       SECTION 11.  Amends Section 19, Article 42.12, Code of Criminal
Procedure, by adding Subsection (g), to require a judge to require
a person who is required to register as a sex offender and is
placed on community supervision to pay a specified fee to the
supervising officer as a condition of community supervision. 
Requires a community supervision and corrections department to
remit fees collected under this subsection to the authority for the
reimbursement of costs incurred.  Provides that in a revocation of
community supervision hearing, failure to pay required fees is an
affirmative defense to revocation.

SECTION 12.    Amends Section 8, Article 42.18, Code of Criminal
Procedure, by adding Subsection (r), to make a conforming change.

SECTION 13.    Amends Section 18, Article 42.18, Code of Criminal
Procedure, to provide that this section does not apply to
information regarding a sex offender if it is authorized for
release under Article 6252-13c.1, V.T.C.S.  Makes a conforming
change.

SECTION 14.    Amends Article 60.01(3), Code of Criminal Procedure,
to redefine "computerized criminal history system."

SECTION 15.    Amends Article 60.02(b), Code of Criminal Procedure,
to provide that the department is responsible for recording data
and maintaining a database for a computerized criminal history
system that serves as the record creation point for criminal
history information maintained by the state and a list of sex
offenders required to register under Article 6252-13c.1, V.T.C.S.

SECTION 16.    Amends Article 60.05, Code of Criminal Procedure, to
make conforming changes.

SECTION 17.    Amends Article 60.051, Code of Criminal Procedure,
by adding Subsection (f), to make a conforming change.

SECTION 18.    Amends Section 411.082(2), Government Code, to make
a conforming change.

SECTION 19.    Repealer:  Section 6, Article 6252-13c.1, V.T.C.S.
(Sexual Offender Registration Program-Destruction of Juvenile
Delinquency Records).

SECTION 20. (a)     Makes application of Article 6252-13c.1,
V.T.C.S., of this Act prospective.

     (b)  Provides that the duty of the department to destroy
     registration information of a person under Section 6, Article
     6252-13c.1, V.T.C.S., repealed by this Act, applies only to a
     person with a reportable adjudication who has reached the age
     of 21 before the effective date of this Act.

SECTION 21.    Makes application of Sections 9-12 of this Act
prospective.

SECTION 22.    Requires the department to establish the rules and
procedures necessary to comply with Chapter 60, Code of Criminal
Procedure, as amended by this Act, not later than January 1, 1996.

SECTION 23.    Effective date: September 1, 1995.

SECTION 24.    Emergency clause.