| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to a central database containing information about violent |
|
|
offenders. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 411.135(a), Government Code, is amended |
|
|
to read as follows: |
|
|
(a) Any person is entitled to obtain from the department: |
|
|
(1) any information described as public information |
|
|
under Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, [as added by Chapter
|
|
|
668, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997,] |
|
|
including, to the extent available, a recent photograph of each |
|
|
person subject to registration under that chapter; [and] |
|
|
(2) criminal history record information maintained by |
|
|
the department that relates to the conviction of or a grant of |
|
|
deferred adjudication to a person for any criminal offense, |
|
|
including arrest information that relates to the conviction or |
|
|
grant of deferred adjudication; and |
|
|
(3) any information described as public information |
|
|
under Section 411.1355. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Subchapter F, Chapter 411, Government Code, is |
|
|
amended by adding Section 411.1355 to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 411.1355. CENTRAL DATABASE OF VIOLENT OFFENDERS. (a) |
|
|
In this section: |
|
|
(1) "Internet domain name" has the meaning assigned by |
|
|
Section 48.002, Business & Commerce Code, as added by Section 1, |
|
|
Chapter 544, Acts of the 79th Legislature, Regular Session, 2005. |
|
|
(2) "Local law enforcement authority" has the meaning |
|
|
assigned by Article 62.001, Code of Criminal Procedure. |
|
|
(3) "Web page" has the meaning assigned by Section |
|
|
48.002, Business & Commerce Code, as added by Section 1, Chapter |
|
|
554, Acts of the 79th Legislature, Regular Session, 2005. |
|
|
(b) The department shall maintain a computerized central |
|
|
database containing information regarding persons who: |
|
|
(1) have been convicted of or received a grant of |
|
|
deferred adjudication for an offense described by Section 3g, |
|
|
Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure; and |
|
|
(2) in connection with the conviction or grant of |
|
|
deferred adjudication, were subsequently discharged, paroled, |
|
|
placed in a nonsecure community program for juvenile offenders, or |
|
|
placed on juvenile probation, community supervision, or mandatory |
|
|
supervision. |
|
|
(c) The information contained in the database is public |
|
|
information, with the exception of any information: |
|
|
(1) regarding the person's social security number, |
|
|
driver's license number, or telephone number; or |
|
|
(2) that would identify the victim of the offense for |
|
|
which the person was convicted or received a grant of deferred |
|
|
adjudication. |
|
|
(d) The department, in cooperation with the Board of Pardons |
|
|
and Paroles, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, The Texas |
|
|
Youth Commission, |
|
|
the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, and the |
|
|
Commission on Jail Standards, shall by rule design and implement a |
|
|
system for the registration of persons described by Subsection (b). |
|
|
The system must establish requirements and procedures for: |
|
|
(1) an offender to be notified, before the offender's |
|
|
release, of the offender's duty to register with a local law |
|
|
enforcement authority; |
|
|
(2) the offender to register with a local law |
|
|
enforcement authority: |
|
|
(A) annually; |
|
|
(B) every 90 days if the offender is determined |
|
|
by the department to be high risk because of the offender's status |
|
|
as a repeat offender or because of the violent nature of the offense |
|
|
charged; or |
|
|
(C) every 30 days if the offender does not have a |
|
|
permanent address; |
|
|
(3) the offender to register with a local law |
|
|
enforcement authority not later than five days after the date the |
|
|
offender changes address; |
|
|
(4) an offender who operates an online business to: |
|
|
(A) disclose the name, Internet domain name, and |
|
|
web page of the business, if applicable, to the local law |
|
|
enforcement authority with whom the offender registers; and |
|
|
(B) notify the local law enforcement authority |
|
|
not later than five days after the date the name, Internet domain |
|
|
name, or web page of the business changes; |
|
|
(5) the offender to request and be granted an |
|
|
exclusion from the database; |
|
|
(6) the database to track whether an offender is in |
|
|
compliance with registration requirements and, if an offender is |
|
|
not in compliance, to make that information available to a person |
|
|
who requests the information; |
|
|
(7) a local law enforcement agency to promptly forward |
|
|
registration information to the department for use in the database; |
|
|
and |
|
|
(8) the department to update the database daily. |
|
|
(e) This section does not apply to a person about whom |
|
|
information is included in the database maintained under Article |
|
|
62.005, Code of Criminal Procedure. Procedures relating to the |
|
|
dissemination of information about those persons and registration |
|
|
requirements for those persons are as provided by Chapter 62, Code |
|
|
of Criminal Procedure, and by Section 411.135. |
|
|
SECTION 3. The central database required by Section |
|
|
411.1355, Government Code, as added by this Act, must be designed |
|
|
and implemented not later than March 1, 2008. |
|
|
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives |
|
|
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as |
|
|
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this |
|
|
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this |
|
|
Act takes effect September 1, 2007. |