By Jones of Dallas                                     H.B. No. 806
         76R2831 KEL-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the force and effect of a digital signature on certain
 1-3     court documents.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Chapter 2, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended
 1-6     by adding Article 2.26 to read as follows:
 1-7           Art. 2.26.  DIGITAL SIGNATURE.  (a)  In this section,
 1-8     "digital signature" means an electronic identifier intended by the
 1-9     person using it to have the same force and effect as the use of a
1-10     manual signature.
1-11           (b)  An electronically transmitted document issued or
1-12     received by a court in a criminal matter is considered signed if a
1-13     digital signature is transmitted with the document.
1-14           (c)  This section does not preclude any symbol from being
1-15     valid as a signature under other applicable law, including Section
1-16     1.201(39), Business & Commerce Code.
1-17           (d)  The use of a digital signature under this section is
1-18     subject to criminal laws pertaining to fraud and computer crimes,
1-19     including Chapters 32 and 33, Penal Code.
1-20           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-21     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-22     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-23     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-24     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 2-1     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 2-2     passage, and it is so enacted.
 2-3                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
 2-4           Amend H.B. 806 by adding a new Section 2 to read as follows
 2-5     and renumber the subsequent sections appropriately:
 2-6           SECTION 2.  Article 45.021, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
 2-7     amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (f) to
 2-8     read as follows:
 2-9           (a)  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a document
2-10     that is issued by a justice or municipal court or a notice or
2-11     citation issued by a law enforcement officer may be created by
2-12     electronic means, including optical imaging, optical disk, digital
2-13     imaging, or other electronic reproduction technique that does not
2-14     permit changes, additions, or deletions to the originally created
2-15     document.
2-16           (f)  A statutory requirement that a document contain the
2-17     signature of any person, including a judge, clerk of the court, or
2-18     defendant, is satisfied if the document contains that signature as
2-19     captured on an electronic device.
2-20                                                                Thompson