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78R1767 EMT-D

By:  Keel                                                         H.B. No. 171



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the authority of a district court to order the  
expunction of arrest records and files for certain persons.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 1, Article 55.02, Code of Criminal 
Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
	Sec. 1. At the request of the defendant and after notice to 
the state and a hearing, the trial court presiding over the case in 
which the defendant was acquitted, if the trial court is a district 
court, or a district court in the county in which the trial court is 
located shall enter an order of expunction for a person entitled to 
expunction under Article 55.01(a)(1)(A) not later than the 30th day 
after the date of the acquittal.  Upon acquittal, the trial court 
shall advise the defendant of the right to expunction.  The 
defendant shall provide to the district court all of the 
information required in a petition for expunction under Section 
2(b).
	SECTION 2.  Sections 3(a) and (b), Article 55.02, Code of 
Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
	(a)  In an order of expunction issued under this article, the 
[trial] court shall require any state agency that sent information 
concerning the arrest to a central federal depository to request 
the [such] depository to return all records and files subject to the 
order of expunction.  The person who is the subject of the 
expunction order or an agency protesting the expunction may appeal 
the court's decision in the same manner as in other civil cases.
	(b)  The order of expunction entered by the [trial] court 
shall have attached and incorporate by reference a copy of the 
judgment of acquittal and shall include:
		(1)  the following information on the person who is the 
subject of the expunction order:
			(A)  full name;                                                              
			(B)  sex;                                                                    
			(C)  race;                                                                   
			(D)  date of birth;                                                          
			(E)  driver's license number; and                                            
			(F)  social security number;                                                 
		(2)  the offense charged against the person who is the 
subject of the expunction order;
		(3)  the date the person who is the subject of the 
expunction order was arrested;
		(4)  the case number and court of offense; and                                
		(5)  the tracking incident number (TRN) assigned to the 
individual incident of arrest under Article 60.07(b)(1) by the 
Department of Public Safety.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and 
applies only to a request for expunction made on or after that date.