HBA-AMW C.S.S.B. 1074 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.S.B. 1074 By: West, Royce Criminal Jurisprudence 4/23/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, there is growing concern regarding the practice of racial profiling by law enforcement agencies. C.S.S.B. 1074 defines and prohibits racial profiling and sets forth provisions for the implementation of policies, education and training programs, and the collection and reporting of certain information regarding racial profiling in the practice of law enforcement. 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 C.S.S.B. 1074 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure and Occupation and Transportation codes relating to the prevention of racial profiling by certain peace officers. The bill amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to define "racial profiling" to mean a law enforcement-initiated action based on an individual's race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than on the individual's behavior or on information identifying the individual as having engaged in criminal activity (Art. 3.05). The bill requires each law enforcement agency to adopt and implement a written policy on racial profiling not later than January 1, 2002. The bill sets forth policy specifications including the prohibition of racial profiling; the required collection of information relating to traffic stops in which a citation is issued or an arrest made and the person's race or ethnicity and whether a search was conducted; and the required submission, to the governing body of each county or municipality, of an annual report of the information collected if the agency is an agency of a county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the state. Such a report is prohibited from containing information about a peace officer who makes a traffic stop or an individual who is stopped or arrested (Art. 2.132, Code of Criminal Procedure and SECTION 7). The bill specifies that the data collected in the report shall not constitute prima facie evidence of racial profiling. On adoption of the policy, a law enforcement agency is required to examine the feasibility of installing video camera and transmitter-activated equipment in each agency law enforcement motor vehicle regularly used to make traffic stops and transmitter-activated equipment in each agency law enforcement motorcycle regularly used to make traffic stops. If a law enforcement agency installs such equipment, the policy must include standards for reviewing video and audio documentation (Art. 2.132, Code of Criminal Procedure). The bill requires a peace officer who stops a motor vehicle for an alleged violation of a traffic law or ordinance or who stops a pedestrian for any suspected offense to report to the law enforcement agency that employs the officer certain information relating to the stop including a physical description of each detained person (Art. 2.133, Code of Criminal Procedure). A law enforcement agency is required to compile and analyze the information contained in each report and, not later than March 1 of each year beginning in 2004, each local law enforcement agency is required to submit a report containing the information compiled during the previous calendar year to the governing body of each county or municipality served by the agency. The bill sets forth specifications for the report. The report is prohibited from containing information about a peace officer who makes a traffic stop or an individual who is stopped or arrested. The Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education is required to develop guidelines for compiling and reporting the required information (Art. 2.134, Code of Criminal Procedure and SECTION 8). The bill exempts a peace officer from reporting information concerning traffic and pedestrian stops and exempts a law enforcement agency from the compilation, analysis, and reporting requirements if, during the calendar year preceding the date that a report is required to be submitted, each law enforcement motor vehicle regularly used to make traffic and pedestrian stops is equipped with video camera and transmitteractivated equipment, each law enforcement motorcycle regularly used to make traffic and pedestrian stops is equipped with transmitter-activated equipment, and each stop that is capable of being recorded is recorded. Unless a complaint is filed with a law enforcement agency alleging that a peace officer has engaged in racial profiling, an exempt law enforcement agency is required to retain the video and audio or audio documentation of each traffic or pedestrian stop for at least 90 days after the stop. If such a complaint is made, the agency is required to retain the video and audio or audio record of the stop until the final disposition of the complaint (Art. 2.135, Code of Criminal Procedure). The bill provides that a peace officer is not liable for damages arising from an act relating to the collection or reporting of information under reports required for traffic and pedestrian stops (Art. 2.136, Code of Criminal Procedure). C.S.S.B. 1074 amends the Education Code to require, as part of the initial training and continuing education for police chiefs and not later than January 1, 2002, the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas to establish a program on racial profiling. The program must include an examination of the best practices for monitoring peace officers' compliance with laws and internal agency policies relating to racial profiling, implementing laws and internal agency policies relating to preventing racial profiling, and analyzing and reporting collected information (Sec. 96.641 and SECTION 9). An individual appointed or elected as a police chief is required to complete the racial profiling program by September 1, 2003 (SECTION 11). The bill amends the Occupations Code to require the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education (commission), as part of the minimum curriculum requirements, to establish, not later than January 1, 2002, a statewide comprehensive education and training program on racial profiling (program) for licensed law enforcement officers. An officer is required to complete such a program not later than the second anniversary of the date the officer becomes a licensed law enforcement officer or the date the officer applies for an intermediate proficiency certificate, whichever date is earlier. The bill requires a person who on September 1, 2001, holds an intermediary proficiency certificate issued by the commission or has held a peace officer license issued by the commission for at least two years to complete the program not later than September 1, 2003 (Secs. 1701.253, 1701.402, SECTIONS 9 and 10). EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.S.B. 1074 removes provisions in the original bill regarding the availability of funding or equipment for collecting information on traffic and pedestrian stops. The substitute modifies the original bill by limiting to an agency of a county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the state the requirement that law enforcement agencies submit to the governing body of each county or municipality served by the agency an annual report of the information collected relating to certain traffic stops (Art. 2.132, Code of Criminal Procedure). The substitute modifies the original bill by specifying that each local law enforcement agency, rather than a law enforcement agency, is required to submit a report containing the information collected from traffic and pedestrian stops compiled during the previous year to the governing body of each county or municipality served by the agency (Art. 2.134, Code of Criminal Procedure).