BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 2798

By: Driver

Public Safety

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

During the interim, the Committee on Law Enforcement was tasked with studying the standards and qualifications necessary to be designated as a police agency. With the exception of counties and certain cities that are granted constitutional authority, a legislative proposal granting the authority must be passed into law in order for an entity to become a commissioning authority. Once statutory permission is granted, the entity must then submit a one-page application to the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education requesting an agency number.

The information required for the application is limited and does not accurately reflect the extensive range of issues that must be addressed by persons seeking to create and operate a police department. Interim testimony raised serious concerns as to whether individuals in compliance with current requirements fully understand exactly what is involved in operating a police department.

As a result, the committee recommended that any entity seeking commissioning authority should provide certain basic information to the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education. This will not only encourage and improve professionalism, it will help to standardize the creation of new departments within the state.

H.B. 2798 requires a commissioning entity to provide certain information regarding a new law enforcement agency or police department to the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education on creation of the law enforcement agency or police department. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education in SECTION 1 of this bill.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 2798 amends the Occupations Code to require an entity authorized by statute or by the constitution to create a law enforcement agency or police department and commission, appoint, or employ officers to submit to the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education, on creation of the law enforcement agency or police department, information regarding the need for the law enforcement agency or police department in the community; the funding sources for the law enforcement agency or police department; the physical resources available to officers; the physical facilities which the law enforcement agency or police department will operate, including descriptions of the evidence room, dispatch area, and public area; law enforcement policies of the law enforcement agency or police department, including policies on use of force, vehicle pursuit, professional conduct officers, domestic abuse protocols, response to missing persons, supervision of part-time officers, and impartial policing; the administrative structure of the law enforcement agency or police department; liability insurance; and any other information the commission requires by rule. The bill makes its provisions applicable to an entity that first creates a law enforcement agency or police department and first begins to commission, appoint, or employ officers on or after September 1, 2009.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2009.