By Goodman H.B. No. 1712
76R3556 JMC-F
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the compilation of information pertaining to a criminal
1-3 combination and to the establishment of a statewide database of
1-4 criminal street gang information.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Article 61.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-7 amended by amending Subdivision (1) and adding Subdivision (7) to
1-8 read as follows:
1-9 (1) "Combination" and "criminal street gang" have
1-10 [has] the meanings [meaning] assigned by Section 71.01, Penal Code.
1-11 (7) "Department" means the Department of Public
1-12 Safety.
1-13 SECTION 2. Article 61.03(c), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-14 amended to read as follows:
1-15 (c) A [local] criminal justice agency that compiles
1-16 information under Article 61.02 relating to a criminal street gang
1-17 shall [may not] send a copy of the information [collected under
1-18 this chapter] to the [a] statewide database maintained by the
1-19 department under Article 61.07.
1-20 SECTION 3. Article 61.06, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
1-21 amended to read as follows:
1-22 Art. 61.06. REMOVAL [DESTRUCTION] OF RECORDS. (a) Subject
1-23 to [Except as provided by] Subsection (b), information collected
1-24 under this chapter relating to a criminal street gang must be
2-1 removed from an information system established under Article 61.02
2-2 and the statewide database maintained by the department under
2-3 Article 61.07 [destroyed] after five [two] years if:
2-4 (1) the information relates to the investigation or
2-5 prosecution of criminal activity engaged in by a child; and
2-6 (2) the individual who is the subject of the
2-7 information has not been:
2-8 (A) arrested for:
2-9 (i) [charged with] criminal activity
2-10 reported to the department under Chapter 60; or
2-11 (ii) an offense under Section 42.01(a)(6)
2-12 or (11), Penal Code; or
2-13 (B) taken into custody for:
2-14 (i) delinquent conduct reported to the
2-15 department under Chapter 58, Family Code; or
2-16 (ii) conduct constituting an offense under
2-17 Section 42.01(a)(6) or (11), Penal Code.
2-18 (b) In determining whether information is required to be
2-19 removed from an information system or the statewide database under
2-20 Subsection (a), the five-year period does not include any period
2-21 during which the individual who is the subject of the information
2-22 is:
2-23 (1) committed to the Texas Youth Commission for
2-24 conduct that violates a penal law of the grade of felony; or
2-25 (2) confined in the institutional division or the
2-26 state jail division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
2-27 [The information destruction requirements of Subsection (a) are
3-1 suspended until September 1, 1999].
3-2 SECTION 4. Chapter 61, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
3-3 amended by adding Article 61.07 to read as follows:
3-4 Art. 61.07. STATEWIDE DATABASE. The department shall
3-5 establish and maintain a statewide database of criminal information
3-6 reported to the department under Article 61.03(c).
3-7 SECTION 5. Article 61.03(d), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
3-8 repealed.
3-9 SECTION 6. The change in law made by this Act applies to
3-10 criminal information collected under Chapter 61, Code of Criminal
3-11 Procedure, as amended by this Act, before, on, or after the
3-12 effective date of this Act.
3-13 SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
3-14 SECTION 8. The importance of this legislation and the
3-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.