1-1 By: Staples S.B. No. 1608
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 9, 2001; March 14, 2001, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
1-4 April 9, 2001, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 7,
1-5 Nays 0; April 9, 2001, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the expunction of arrest records and files when an
1-9 indictment or information is dismissed or quashed.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Article 55.01, Code of Criminal
1-12 Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
1-13 (a) A person who has been arrested for commission of either
1-14 a felony or misdemeanor is entitled to have all records and files
1-15 relating to the arrest expunged if:
1-16 (1) the person is tried for the offense for which the
1-17 person was arrested and is:
1-18 (A) acquitted by the trial court, except as
1-19 provided by Subsection (c) of this section; or
1-20 (B) convicted and subsequently pardoned; or
1-21 (2) each of the following conditions exist:
1-22 (A) an indictment or information charging the
1-23 person with commission of a felony has not been presented against
1-24 the person for an offense arising out of the transaction for which
1-25 the person was arrested or, if an indictment or information
1-26 charging the person with commission of a felony was presented, the
1-27 indictment or information [it] has been dismissed or quashed, and:
1-28 (i) the limitations period expired before
1-29 the date on which a petition for expunction was filed under Article
1-30 55.02; or
1-31 (ii) [and] the court finds that the
1-32 indictment or information [it] was dismissed or quashed because the
1-33 presentment had been made because of mistake, false information, or
1-34 other similar reason indicating absence of probable cause at the
1-35 time of the dismissal to believe the person committed the offense
1-36 or because it was void;
1-37 (B) the person has been released and the charge,
1-38 if any, has not resulted in a final conviction and is no longer
1-39 pending and there was no court ordered community supervision under
1-40 Article 42.12 [of this code]; and
1-41 (C) the person has not been convicted of a
1-42 felony in the five years preceding the date of the arrest.
1-43 SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to
1-44 arrest records and files created before, on, or after the effective
1-45 date of this Act.
1-46 * * * * *