HBA-LCA H.B. 1712 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1712
By: Goodman
Juvenile Justice & Family Issues
3/5/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, information on gang activity may only be collected and
shared at the regional level.  Despite an increase in gang activity, and
greater mobility and organization among criminal street gangs, law
enforcement officers lack the ability to collect and share gang information
on a statewide basis efficiently and inexpensively.  H.B. 1712 allows the
creation of a statewide database on gangs.  The bill requires removal of
the information collected on juveniles, who comprise 75 percent of gang
membership, after five years, providing that the juvenile has not been
arrested or taken into custody for certain offenses during that time. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Article 61.01, Code of Criminal Procedure (Definitions),
by amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivision (7), as follows: 

(1) Provides that "criminal street gang" has the meaning assigned by
Section 71.01, Penal Code (Definitions).  Makes conforming changes. 

(7) Defines "department" as the Department of Public Safety.

SECTION 2.Amends Article 61.03(c), Code of Criminal Procedure, as follows:

(c) Requires, rather than prohibits, a criminal justice agency that
compiles information on criminal street gangs under Article 61.02 to send a
copy of the information to the statewide database maintained by the
department. 

SECTION 3.Amends Article 61.06, Code of Criminal Procedure, as follows:

Art. 61.06.  New Title:  REMOVAL OF RECORDS.  Deletes "destruction" from
existing title. (a)  Increases from two to five the number of years
information on criminal street gangs must be maintained before it is
removed from the statewide database if the information relates to the
investigation or prosecution of criminal activity engaged in by a child and
if the subject of the information has not been arrested for, rather than
charged with, certain criminal activity.  That criminal activity includes
activity reported to the department under Chapter 60, Code of Criminal
Procedure (Criminal History Record System), or under Section 42.01(a)(6) or
(11) (Disorderly Conduct and Related Offenses), Penal Code.   Provides for
the removal of information if the subject of the information has not been
taken into custody for delinquent conduct under Chapter 58, Family Code
(Records; Juvenile Justice Information System) or for an offense defined
under Section 42.01(a)(6) or (11), Penal Code. 

(b) Provides that the five-year period does not include any period during
which the subject of the information has been committed to the Texas Youth
Commission for a felony offense or confined to Texas Department of Criminal
Justice facilities. 
 
SECTION 4.  Amends Chapter 61, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding
Article 61.07, to require the department to establish and maintain a
statewide database of criminal information.  

SECTION 5.  Repealer:  Article 61.03(d), Code of Criminal Procedure, which
allows local criminal justice agencies to send information to regional
databases. 

SECTION 7.Effective date:  September 1, 1999.

SECTION 8.Emergency clause.