BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 2825

By: King, Ken

County Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The commissioners court in a county with a population of 100,000 or more currently has the authority to designate as a countywide registration location for sex offenders either the office of the sheriff or the municipal office of a chief of police. However, interested parties note that counties with a population of less than 100,000 cannot make such a designation, which essentially forces such a county to appoint a person in the county sheriff's office and in each municipal police department to register sex offenders in their respective jurisdiction. Because a small municipality's police department typically has a smaller staff, interested parties contend that the designated person also handles other tasks, such as responding to calls, so a registering offender may not be monitored as thoroughly as possible.  H.B. 2825 seeks to address this issue.

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. 2825 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to remove the requirement that a county have a population of 100,000 or more as a condition of establishing a centralized sex offender registration authority.  The bill includes change of address reporting requirements among the sex offender registration and verification requirements that must be performed with respect to the centralized registration authority for the county. The bill expressly does not affect a person's duty to register with secondary sex offender registries.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2013.