BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2153

By: Edwards

Criminal Jurisprudence

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Current law does not adequately address homeless sex offenders or registration of such sex offenders who are released from prison after serving their sentences and who fail to properly register. 

A sex offender may claim that the offender is homeless for three primary reasons: the offender is truly homeless because many shelters and apartment complexes will not admit the offender; the offender has learned that he or she will be evicted on registration at an address where the offender is prohibited to reside, and finds it easier to claim to be homeless and stay at the residence anyway; and the offender may not want the public to know who he or she is and where he or she lives.  The actual percentage of homeless sex offenders is unknown, but some that claim to be homeless actually have residences but willfully deceive the public and law enforcement about their whereabouts. This situation causes law enforcement authorities to encounter many difficulties tracking and monitoring homeless sex offenders. Addressing this issue would reduce the incentive for a sex offender to claim that he or she is homeless.

C.S.H.B. 2153 requires a sex offender who is released to verify his or her residence address or geographical area information with a law enforcement agency at a specified time interval or risk having charges filed against him or her for failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements.  The bill provides law enforcement with the ability to file charges in a county where the sex offender resides or is found if the offender fails to properly register. 

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

C.S.H.B. 2153 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to add the specification to the provision authorizing an offense under the sex offender registration program to be prosecuted in the county in which the person required to register under the program has indicated that the person intends to reside that such prosecution may occur, regardless of whether the person establishes or attempts to establish residency in that county.  The bill adds to the list of counties in which such a sex offense is authorized to be prosecuted the county in which the person required to register as a sex offender resides or is found by a peace officer, regardless of how long the person has been in the county or intends to stay in the county. 

C.S.H.B. 2153 requires a sex offender registration form to include, in addition to other personal identifying information, the address at which the person resides or intends to reside or, if the person does not reside or intend to reside at a physical address, a detailed description of each geographical location at which the person resides or intends to reside, rather than the person's home address. The bill imposes a deadline of not later than the seventh day after the date on which the person is released on the requirement that a person for whom sex offender registration is completed report to the applicable local law enforcement authority to verify the information in the registration form received by the authority. 

C.S.H.B. 2153 requires a person subject to sex offender registration, if the person is released from a penal institution without being released to parole or placed on any other form of supervision and does not move to the residence indicated on the registration form as the person's intended residence, to report not later than the seventh day after the date on which the person is released in person to the local law enforcement authority for the municipality or county, as applicable, in which the person actually resides, and the local law enforcement authority for the person's intended residence and provide those authorities with the address of the person's temporary residence or, if applicable, a detailed description of the geographical location of the person's temporary residence; and, unless the person has otherwise complied with the reporting requirements for a person who lacks an address, to continue to report to those authorities in that manner not less than once in each 14-day period during any period in which the person has not moved to the intended residence and provide those authorities with the address of the person's temporary residence or, if applicable, a detailed description of the geographical location of the person's temporary residence.  The bill prohibits a person required to register as a sex offender from refusing or otherwise failing to provide any information required for the accurate completion of the registration form.

C.S.H.B. 2153 requires an official of a penal institution, before releasing a person who will be subject to sex offender registration from the penal institution, to inform the person that, not later than the seventh day after the date on which the person is released or the date on which the person moves from a previous residence to a new residence in Texas, the person must, if the person has not moved to an intended residence, report to the applicable local law enforcement authority specified under state law in addition to the juvenile probation officer, community supervision and corrections department officer, or parole officer supervising the person, as applicable.  The bill requires the official of a penal institution, before releasing a person who does not intend to reside at a physical address, to obtain a detailed description of each geographical location where the person expects to reside on the person's release.

C.S.H.B. 2153 requires a person required to register as a sex offender, if the person resides for more than seven days at a location or locations to which a physical address has not been assigned by a governmental entity, not less that once in each 14-day period, to confirm the person's location or locations by reporting to the local law enforcement authority in the municipality where the person resides or, if the person does not reside in a municipality, the local law enforcement authority in the county in which the person resides and by providing a detailed description of the applicable location or locations.   

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2009.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 2153 differs from the original by requiring a person subject to sex offender registration who is released from a penal institution without being released to parole or placed on any other form of supervision and does not move to the residence indicated on the registration form as the person's intended residence, to report in person to the local law enforcement authority for the municipality or county, as applicable, in which the person actually resides in addition to the local law enforcement authority for the person's intended residence, with certain information regarding the person's temporary residence, whereas the original requires such a person to report only to the local law enforcement authority for the person's intended residence.  The substitute differs from the original by making conforming changes to reflect this additional reporting requirement. The substitute removes a provision in the original authorizing a person to meet that reporting requirement by telephone.  The substitute differs from the original by requiring a person subject to that reporting requirement, unless the person has otherwise complied with the reporting requirements for a person who lacks an address, to continue to report to those authorities in that manner not less than once in each 14-day period, rather than weekly as in the original, during any period in which the person has not moved to the intended residence.