1-1     By:  Harris                                            S.B. No. 422
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 5, 1999; February 9, 1999,
 1-3     read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
 1-4     March 17, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 4,
 1-5     Nays 0; March 17, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the sealing of juvenile records.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Section 58.003, Family Code, is amended by
1-11     amending Subsection (g) and adding Subsection (o) to read as
1-12     follows:
1-13           (g)  On entry of the order:
1-14                 (1)  all law enforcement, prosecuting attorney, clerk
1-15     of court, and juvenile court records ordered sealed shall be sent
1-16     before the 61st day after the date the order is received to the
1-17     court issuing the order;
1-18                 (2)  all records of a public or private agency or
1-19     institution ordered sealed shall be sent before the 61st day after
1-20     the date the order is received to the court issuing the order;
1-21                 (3)  all index references to the records ordered sealed
1-22     shall be deleted before the 61st day after the date the order is
1-23     received, and verification of the deletion shall be sent before the
1-24     61st day after the date of the deletion to the court issuing the
1-25     order;
1-26                 (4)  the juvenile court, clerk of court, prosecuting
1-27     attorney, public or private agency or institution, and law
1-28     enforcement officers and agencies shall properly reply that no
1-29     record exists with respect to the person on inquiry in any matter;
1-30     and
1-31                 (5)  the adjudication shall be vacated and the
1-32     proceeding dismissed and treated for all purposes other than a
1-33     subsequent capital prosecution, including the purpose of showing a
1-34     prior finding of delinquent conduct, as if it had never occurred.
1-35           (o)  An agency or official named in the order that cannot
1-36     seal the records because there is incorrect or insufficient
1-37     information in the order shall notify the court issuing the order
1-38     before the 61st day after the date the agency or official receives
1-39     the order.  The court shall notify the person who made the
1-40     application or who is the subject of the records named in the
1-41     motion, or the attorney for that person, before the 61st day after
1-42     the date the court receives the notice that the agency or official
1-43     cannot seal the records because there is incorrect or insufficient
1-44     information in the order.
1-45           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-46           (b)  This Act applies only to an order to seal records under
1-47     Section 58.003, Family Code, entered on or after the effective date
1-48     of this Act.
1-49           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-50     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-51     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-52     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-53     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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