H.B. 254 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


H.B. 254
By: Kolkhorst
Criminal Jurisprudence
Committee Report (Unamended)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Identity theft is the stealing of one person's personal identification
information such as social security number, name, date of birth, and
mother's maiden name in order to fraudulently establish credit, and run
debt or in some cases take over financial accounts.   

The purpose of HB 254 is to assist prosecutors as well as law enforcement
officials in the prosecution of identity theft cases. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or
institution. 

ANALYSIS

HB254 establishes that a suspect in an identity theft case may be
prosecuted in any county in which an offense was committed or the county
in which the victim resides. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and applies only to the
prosecution of an offense commenced by the filing of an indictment or
information on or after that date. A prosecution commenced before
September 1, 2003, is controlled by the law in effect at the time the
prosecution was commenced, and the former law is continued in effect for
that purpose.