HBA-AMW H.B. 1336 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1336 By: Wilson Criminal Jurisprudence 2/26/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Many minority motorists across the country have been treated differently than nonminority motorists when stopped by law enforcement officers. The federal government is considering and several states have undertaken measures aimed at preventing racial profiling by law enforcement officers. A recent Texas Department of Public Safety study found that African-American and Hispanic motorists were more likely than Caucasian motorists to be subjected to searches after being stopped by a state trooper. Current law does not contain provisions specifically targeted toward reducing or eliminating racial profiling as a law enforcement practice. House Bill 1336 creates provisions for the reporting of traffic stops by peace officers, the analysis and review of these reports by the appropriate authorities, the prohibition of pretext search and seizures, and procedures for a law enforcement agency that determines an officer has violated these provisions. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS House Bill 1336 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to create provisions relating to reducing or eliminating racial profiling as a law enforcement practice. The bill requires a peace officer who stops a motor vehicle for an alleged violation of a law or ordinance regulating traffic to report to the law enforcement agency that employs the officer the age, gender, and race or ethnicity of the driver of the vehicle and the law or ordinance alleged to have been violated. The bill requires the report to include whether the officer conducted a search as a result of the stop, and if so, requires a specified description of the search. The bill also requires the report to include whether the officer discovered any contraband in the course of the search, whether the officer made an arrest as a result of the stop or the search, and the location of the stop. The bill requires a law enforcement agency to compile the information contained in each report and submit the information compiled during the previous calendar year to the governing body of each county or municipality served by the agency not later than March 1 of each year. The bill requires a governing body that receives the information from a law enforcement agency to analyze the information and, not later than September 1 of the year in which the information is received, submit to the Commission on Human Rights and each law enforcement agency from which the governing body received information a report relating to the results of the analysis. The bill sets forth provisions for the contents of the report. H.B. 1336 requires a law enforcement agency to review each report submitted to the agency to determine whether the number of vehicles stopped by any peace officer employed by the agency is disproportionate to the population of the county or municipality served by the agency according to race or ethnicity. If a law enforcement agency determines that the number of vehicles stopped by a peace officer is disproportionate, the bill requires the agency to conduct an investigation of the officer. H.B. 1336 specifies that the purpose of the investigation of the officer is to determine whether the officer routinely stops vehicles the drivers of which are members of a racial or ethnic minority group for alleged violations of laws or ordinances regulating traffic as a pretext for investigating other violations of penal laws. The bill requires the law enforcement agency, if it determines that a peace officer routinely stops vehicles in the manner described above, to begin the necessary proceedings to terminate the officer and refer the matter to the attorney representing the state for possible prosecution under provisions relating to official oppression or the violation of the civil rights of a person in custody. The bill also requires each law enforcement agency to adopt a policy not later than January 1, 2002, that prohibits peace officers employed by the agency from routinely stopping vehicles in the manner described above. H.B. 1336 prohibits a pretext search or seizure relating to these provisions. The bill sets forth provisions relating to the first submission of such information to a governing body by a law enforcement agency and adoption of policy by a law enforcement agency. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.