BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 1359

By: Alonzo

Criminal Jurisprudence

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Current law authorizes individuals who are granted deferred adjudication for certain misdemeanor and felony offenses to petition a court for an order of nondisclosure after a specified amount of time has elapsed since the discharge and dismissal, under specified circumstances. For selected felony offenses, an individual must wait five years after the date of the discharge and dismissal to petition and for certain misdemeanor offenses, an individual must wait two years after that date.  Therefore, the individual is subjected to the stigma of having a criminal record and will continue to encounter difficulties reintegrating back into society during the entire period of probation, plus the additional five or two years. H.B. 1359 seeks to address this situation by reducing the time during which an individual must wait to petition a court for an order of nondisclosure with regard to certain felony and misdemeanor offenses for which the individual was placed on deferred adjudication community supervision.

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

H.B. 1359 amends the Government Code to change from the second anniversary of a discharge and dismissal to the first such anniversary the earliest possible date on which a person who is placed on deferred adjudication community supervision for a misdemeanor under provisions relating to kidnapping, unlawful restraint, smuggling of persons, sexual offenses, assaultive offenses, offenses against the family, disorderly conduct and related offenses, and weapons offenses and who subsequently receives the discharge and dismissal may pay the court fees required for filing a petition for an order of nondisclosure. The bill changes the earliest possible date from the fifth anniversary of a discharge and dismissal to the third such anniversary of the earliest possible date on which a person who is placed on deferred adjudication community supervision for a felony and who subsequently receives the discharge and dismissal may pay the court fees required for filing a petition for an order of nondisclosure.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2013.