By Madla S.B. No. 634 76R6709 GWK-F A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the reporting of criminal justice statistics. 1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 411, Government Code, is 1-5 amended by adding Section 411.048 to read as follows: 1-6 Sec. 411.048. CRIMINAL JUSTICE REPORT AUDITS. (a) In this 1-7 section, "criminal justice record" means: 1-8 (1) information concerning the number and nature of 1-9 criminal offenses reported or known to have been committed in the 1-10 state or in a political subdivision of the state and the response 1-11 by the legal system to the commission of those offenses; and 1-12 (2) any other information useful in the study of crime 1-13 and the administration of justice. 1-14 (b) A governmental body that collects criminal justice 1-15 records must have the records audited by a certified public 1-16 accountant before reporting those records to the department or 1-17 before reporting those records to the United States Department of 1-18 Justice for inclusion in the Uniform Crime Report. 1-19 (c) The director shall prescribe uniform accounting and 1-20 reporting procedures that each governmental body must use in 1-21 preparing reports made under Subsection (b). The procedures must 1-22 comply with generally accepted accounting principles as established 1-23 by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board and the American 1-24 Institute of Certified Public Accountants or their successors. 2-1 (d) An audit report prepared under Subsection (b) is public 2-2 information, as defined by Section 552.002. 2-3 SECTION 2. The director of the Texas Department of Public 2-4 Safety shall prescribe uniform accounting and reporting procedures 2-5 as required by Section 411.048, Government Code, as added by this 2-6 Act, not later than October 1, 1999. The requirement under Section 2-7 411.048, Government Code, as added by this Act, that all criminal 2-8 justice record reports be audited before the reports are provided 2-9 to the Texas Department of Public Safety or the United States 2-10 Department of Justice applies to all reports provided to those 2-11 departments on or after July 1, 2000. 2-12 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 2-13 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-14 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-15 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-16 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-17 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-18 passage, and it is so enacted.