By Ramsay H.B. No. 2605
75R6237 JRD-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to specifying that certain information about an inmate of
1-3 the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is excepted from required
1-4 disclosure under the open records law and that certain other inmate
1-5 information is subject to required disclosure under that law.
1-6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-7 SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 552, Government Code, is
1-8 amended by adding Section 552.127 to read as follows:
1-9 Sec. 552.127. EXCEPTION: CERTAIN INFORMATION RELATING TO
1-10 INMATE OF DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE. (a) Information is
1-11 excepted from the requirements of Section 552.021 if it is
1-12 information about an inmate of the Texas Department of Criminal
1-13 Justice that relates to:
1-14 (1) the inmate's medical, psychiatric, or
1-15 psychological condition or the treatment of the inmate for one of
1-16 those conditions;
1-17 (2) the inmate's educational attainments, intelligence
1-18 quotient, trust fund account, social history, known enemies,
1-19 disciplinary record, next of kin, or home address; or
1-20 (3) a use-of-force incident involving the inmate that
1-21 is still under investigation.
1-22 (b) Sections 552.023, 552.229, and 552.307 apply to
1-23 information described by Subsection (a) that is requested by the
1-24 inmate or the authorized representative of the inmate to whom the
2-1 information relates.
2-2 SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 552, Government Code, is
2-3 amended by adding Section 552.029 to read as follows:
2-4 Sec. 552.029. RIGHT OF ACCESS TO CERTAIN INFORMATION
2-5 RELATING TO INMATE OF DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE.
2-6 Notwithstanding Section 18(a), Article 42.18, Code of Criminal
2-7 Procedure, or Section 552.127, information about an inmate of the
2-8 Texas Department of Criminal Justice is subject to required
2-9 disclosure under Section 552.021 if it is information that relates
2-10 to:
2-11 (1) the inmate's name, identification number, age, or
2-12 physical description;
2-13 (2) the inmate's assigned unit or the date on which
2-14 the unit received the inmate;
2-15 (3) the offense for which the inmate was convicted or
2-16 the judgment and sentence for that offense;
2-17 (4) the county and court in which the inmate was
2-18 convicted;
2-19 (5) the inmate's earliest or latest possible release
2-20 dates;
2-21 (6) the inmate's parole date or earliest possible
2-22 parole date; or
2-23 (7) any prior confinement of the inmate by the Texas
2-24 Department of Criminal Justice or its predecessor.
2-25 SECTION 3. Section 18, Article 42.18, Code of Criminal
2-26 Procedure, is amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding
2-27 Subsection (e) to read as follows:
3-1 (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) or (e), all
3-2 information, including victim protest letters or other
3-3 correspondence, victim impact statements, lists of inmates eligible
3-4 for release on parole, and arrest records of inmates, obtained and
3-5 maintained in connection with inmates of the institutional division
3-6 subject to parole, release to mandatory supervision, or executive
3-7 clemency, or individuals who may be on mandatory supervision or
3-8 parole and under the supervision of the pardons and paroles
3-9 division, or persons directly identified in any proposed plan of
3-10 release for a prisoner, is confidential and privileged.
3-11 (e) Information that is subject to required disclosure under
3-12 Section 552.029, Government Code, is not confidential or privileged
3-13 under this section.
3-14 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
3-19 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
3-20 passage, and it is so enacted.