| 82R6725 KCR-D | ||
| By: Thompson | H.B. No. 2711 | |
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| relating to the sealing of the records of juveniles who are the | ||
| victims of human trafficking and have been adjudicated to have | ||
| engaged in certain delinquent conduct. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Section 58.003, Family Code, is amended by | ||
| adding Subsections (c-3) and (c-4) and amending Subsection (d) to | ||
| read as follows: | ||
| (c-3) This subsection applies only to a child who is the | ||
| victim of an offense under Section 20A.02, Penal Code, or is | ||
| otherwise described as a victim by Article 42.0191, Code of | ||
| Criminal Procedure. Notwithstanding Subsections (a) and (c) and | ||
| subject to Subsection (b), a juvenile court shall order the sealing | ||
| of records concerning a child adjudicated as having engaged in | ||
| delinquent conduct that violated a provision of Chapter 43, Penal | ||
| Code, when the child, as applicable, successfully completes the | ||
| term of the child's probation or is discharged from the Texas Youth | ||
| Commission. The court shall order the sealing of the records | ||
| immediately and without a hearing. | ||
| (c-4) A prosecuting attorney or juvenile probation | ||
| department may maintain until a child's 17th birthday a separate | ||
| record of the child's name and date of birth and the date the child | ||
| successfully completed the term of the child's probation or was | ||
| discharged from the Texas Youth Commission, if the child's records | ||
| are sealed under Subsection (c-3). The prosecuting attorney or | ||
| juvenile probation department, as applicable, shall send the record | ||
| to the court as soon as practicable after the child's 17th birthday | ||
| to be added to the child's other sealed records. | ||
| (d) The court may grant the relief authorized in Subsection | ||
| (a), [ |
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| person or after the last official action in the case if there was no | ||
| adjudication, subject, if applicable, to Subsection (e). If the | ||
| child is referred to the juvenile court for conduct constituting | ||
| any offense and at the adjudication hearing the child is found to be | ||
| not guilty of each offense alleged, the court shall immediately and | ||
| without any additional hearing order the sealing of all files and | ||
| records relating to the case. | ||
| SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to the | ||
| sealing of records in the adjudication of a juvenile case on or | ||
| after the effective date of this Act, regardless of when the conduct | ||
| that is the subject of the adjudication occurred. | ||
| SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011. | ||