By Patterson                                    S.B. No. 1337

      75R5631 PEP-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the right of a person to seek an expunction of certain

 1-3     records and files pertaining to a misdemeanor offense.

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

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

 1-6     amended to read as follows:

 1-7           (b)  A district court may expunge all records and files

 1-8     relating to the arrest of a person who has been arrested for

 1-9     commission of a felony or misdemeanor under the procedure

1-10     established under Article 55.02 [of this code] if the person is:

1-11                 (1)  tried for the offense for which the person was

1-12     arrested,[;]

1-13                 [(2)]  convicted of the offense,[;] and

1-14                 [(3)]  acquitted by the court of criminal appeals;

1-15                 (2)  placed on community supervision after having been

1-16     convicted or  receiving an order of deferred adjudication in

1-17     connection with the offense for which the person was arrested, if:

1-18                       (A)  the offense is a Class A misdemeanor and not

1-19     less than 20 years have passed since the date on which the person

1-20     was discharged from community supervision; or

1-21                       (B)  the offense is a Class B misdemeanor and not

1-22     less than 15 years have passed since the date on which the person

1-23     was discharged from community supervision; or

1-24                 (3)  convicted of a Class C misdemeanor and not less

 2-1     than 10 years have passed since the date of conviction.

 2-2           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

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

 2-4     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-5     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-6     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-7     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.