H.B. 406 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


H.B. 406
By: Miller
Law Enforcement
Committee Report (Unamended)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, a person accused or convicted of a crime is prohibited
from selling his or her account of the crime through a movie, book,
magazine article, recording, radio interview, or television interview.
However, current law does not prohibit a person accused or convicted of a
crime from profiting from their account of the crime through a web site or
telephone service such as a 1-900 number.  House Bill 406 prohibits
criminals from profiting by selling accounts of the crime through
telephone services and electronic media. 

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

House Bill 406 amends Subdivision (7), Article 59.01 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure to  redefine "proceeds" by adding telephone service and
an electronic media format including an Internet website to the list of
formats from which proceeds are derived.    

EFFECTIVE DATE

This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.