1-1     By:  Davis (Senate Sponsor - Cain)                     H.B. No. 273

 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 1997;

 1-3     May 6, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on State

 1-4     Affairs; May 18, 1997, reported favorably by the following vote:

 1-5     Yeas 12, Nays 0; May 18, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to excepting certain personal information about the

 1-9     identity of and personal information relating to participants in a

1-10     neighborhood crime watch organization from required public

1-11     disclosure under the open records law.

1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-13           SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 552, Government Code, is

1-14     amended by adding Section 552.127 to read as follows:

1-15           Sec. 552.127.  EXCEPTION:  PERSONAL INFORMATION RELATING TO

1-16     PARTICIPANTS IN NEIGHBORHOOD CRIME WATCH ORGANIZATION.

1-17     (a)  Information is excepted from the requirements of Section

1-18     552.021 if the information identifies a person as a participant in

1-19     a neighborhood crime watch organization and relates to the name,

1-20     home address, business address, home telephone number, or business

1-21     telephone number of the person.

1-22           (b)  In this section, "neighborhood crime watch organization"

1-23     means a group of residents of a neighborhood or part of a

1-24     neighborhood that is formed in affiliation or association with a

1-25     law enforcement agency in this state to observe activities within

1-26     the neighborhood or part of a neighborhood and to take other

1-27     actions intended to reduce crime in that area.

1-28           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-29     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-30     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-31     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-32     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-33     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-34     passage, and it is so enacted.

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