SRC-SLL, SLL, DPW S.B. 8 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research CenterS.B. 8 By: West Criminal Justice 8/23/1999 Enrolled DIGEST Currently, Texas law allows a criminal justice agency to compile certain information for the purpose of investigating or prosecuting the criminal activities of combinations. A local criminal justice agency is currently prohibited from sending this information to a statewide database, but is permitted to compile this information in a local or regional database. Collecting and maintaining criminal intelligence information on individuals requires special treatment in order to ensure a person's constitutional rights are never violated. This bill requires the Texas Department of Public Safety to establish and maintain a statewide criminal street gang database, which operates in accordance with policies established in Title 28, Part 23 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and meets the submission criteria for gangs and gang members established in the National Crime Information Center Violent Gang and Terrorist Organizations File. PURPOSE As enrolled, S.B. 8 authorizes a criminal justice agency to compile criminal intelligence information pertaining to criminal street gangs. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY This bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends the heading of Chapter 61, Code of Criminal Procedure, as follows: CHAPTER 61. New heading: COMPILATION OF INFORMATION PERTAINING TO CRIMINAL COMBINATIONS AND CRIMINAL STREET GANGS SECTION 2. Amends Article 61.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, by amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivisions (7) and (8), to define "criminal street gang," "department," "intelligence database," and "law enforcement agency." SECTION 3. Amends Article 61.02, Code of Criminal Procedure, as follows: Art. 61.02. New heading: CRIMINAL COMBINATION AND CRIMINAL STREET GANG INTELLIGENCE DATABASE; SUBMISSION CRITERIA. Authorizes a criminal justice agency to compile criminal information into an intelligence database, rather than system, subject to Subsection (b) for the purpose of investigating criminal street gangs. Requires a law enforcement agency to compile and maintain criminal information relating to a criminal street gang in a local or regional intelligence database if the agency complies with certain operating policies and submission criteria established under Subsection (c). Sets forth requirements for criminal information collected under this chapter. SECTION 4. Amends Article 61.03, Code of Criminal Procedure, by amending Subsections (c) and (d) and by adding Subsection (e), to require a local law enforcement agency to send information relating to criminal street gangs compiled and maintained under this chapter to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), rather than prohibiting a criminal justice agency from sending information collected under this chapter to a statewide database. Requires DPS to establish an intelligence database (database) and maintain information received from an agency under Subsection (c) in the database in accordance with certain operating policies and submission criteria. Requires DPS to designate a code to distinguish criminal information contained in the database relating to a child from criminal information relating to an adult offender. SECTION 5. Amends Article 61.04, Code of Criminal Procedure, by amending Subsection (a) and by adding Subsection (d), to authorize information relating to a child associated with a criminal street gang to be compiled and released under this chapter regardless of the age of the child. Authorizes a governing body of a county or municipality served by the local law enforcement that collects criminal information under this chapter (governing body) to adopt a policy to notify a parent or guardian of a child of a local law enforcement agency's observations relating to the child's association with criminal street gangs. SECTION 6. Amends Article 61.06, Code of Criminal Procedure, as follows: Art. 61.06. New heading: REMOVAL OF RECORDS RELATING TO AN INDIVIDUAL OTHER THAN A CHILD. Provides that this article does not apply to information collected under this chapter by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) or the Texas Youth Commission (TYC). Requires information collected under this chapter relating to a criminal street gang to be removed from a database established under Article 61.02 amd the database maintained by DPS under Article 61.03 after three years if certain requirements are met. Provides that, in determining whether information is required to be removed from a database, the three-year period does not include any period during which the individual who is the subject of the information is confined in the institutional division or the state jail division of TDCJ. SECTION 7. Amends Chapter 61, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding Articles 61.07, 61.08, and 61.09, as follows: Art. 61.07. REMOVAL OF RECORDS RELATING TO A CHILD. Provides that this article does not apply to information collected under this chapter by TDCJ or TYC. Requires information collected under this chapter relating to a criminal street gang to be removed from certain databases after two years if certain conditions are met. Provides that the two-year period does not include any period during which the child who is the subject of the information is committed to TYC for conduct that violates a penal law of the grade of felony or confined in the institutional division or the state jail division of TDCJ. Art. 61.08. RIGHT TO REQUEST REVIEW OF CRIMINAL INFORMATION. Requires the head of a law enforcement agency to review criminal information collected by that agency, upon request by a person or guardian of a child that includes a showing by the person or the parent or guardian that a law enforcement agency may have collected criminal information under this chapter relating to the person or child that is inaccurate or that does not comply with the submission criteria, to determine if reasonable suspicion exists to believe that the information is accurate and the information complies with the submission criteria. Sets forth actions to be taken by the agency head or designee to take certain actions after conducting a review of criminal information under Subsection (a). Requires DPS, on receipt of notice, to immediately destroy all records containing the information that is the subject of the notice in the database. Provides that a person who is committed to TYC or confined in the institutional division or the state jail division of TDCJ does not, while committed or confined, have the right to request review of criminal information under this article. Art. 61.09. JUDICIAL REVIEW. Authorizes a person entitled to seek judicial review of a determination to file a petition for review in district court in the county in which the person resides. Requires a district court, on a filing of a petition for review, to conduct an in camera review of the collected information to determine if reasonable suspicion exists to believe that the information is accurate and complies with the submission criteria. Requires a court, if, after conducting an in camera review of criminal information under Subsection (b), the court finds that reasonable suspicion does not exist to believe that the information is accurate or does not comply with the submission criteria, to order the law enforcement agency that collected the information to destroy all records containing the information, and notify DPS of the court's determination and the destruction of the records. Authorizes a petitioner to appeal a final judgment of a district court conducting an in camera review. Provides that information that is the subject of an in camera review under this article is confidential and may not be disclosed. SECTION 8. Makes application of this Act retroactive. SECTION 9. Provides that a law enforcement agency is not required to send information to the database until September 1, 2000. Sets forth time lines for establishing the database. Requires any law enforcement agency that collected criminal information under Chapter 61, Code of Criminal Procedure, to review certain information to determine if the information was collected in accordance with certain operating policies and submission criteria and purge all records containing information collected in a manner not in accordance with certain operating policies and submission criteria, not later than January 1, 2000. SECTION 10. Requires DPS to report on the implementation of the database no later than December 1, 2000. SECTION 11. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 12.Emergency clause.