By Shields                                      H.B. No. 2969

      75R6890 JMC-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the expunction of arrest records and files when an

 1-3     indictment or information is dismissed or quashed.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Article 55.01(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is

 1-6     amended to read as follows:

 1-7           (a)  A person who has been arrested for commission of either

 1-8     a felony or misdemeanor is entitled to have all records and files

 1-9     relating to the arrest expunged if:

1-10                 (1)  the person is tried for the offense for which the

1-11     person was arrested and is:

1-12                       (A)  acquitted by the trial court; or

1-13                       (B)  convicted and subsequently pardoned; or

1-14                 (2)  each of the following conditions exist:

1-15                       (A)  an indictment or information charging the

1-16     person [him] with commission of a felony has not been presented

1-17     against the person [him] for an offense arising out of the

1-18     transaction for which the person [he] was arrested or, if an

1-19     indictment or information charging the person [him] with commission

1-20     of a felony was presented, the indictment or information [it] has

1-21     been dismissed or quashed, and:

1-22                             (i)  the limitations  period expired before

1-23     the date on which a petition for expunction was filed under Article

1-24     55.02; or

 2-1                             (ii)  [and] the court finds that it was

 2-2     dismissed or quashed because the presentment had been made because

 2-3     of mistake, false information, or other similar reason indicating

 2-4     absence of probable cause at the time of the dismissal to believe

 2-5     the person committed the offense or because it was void;

 2-6                       (B)  the person [he] has been released and the

 2-7     charge, if any, has not resulted in a final conviction and is no

 2-8     longer pending and there was no court ordered community supervision

 2-9     [probation] under Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, nor a

2-10     conditional discharge under Section 481.109, Health and Safety

2-11     Code; and

2-12                       (C)  the person [he] has not been convicted of a

2-13     felony in the five years preceding the date of the arrest.

2-14           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies to

2-15     arrest records and files created before, on, or after the effective

2-16     date of this Act.

2-17           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-22     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-23     passage, and it is so enacted.