BILL ANALYSIS |
C.S.H.B. 1036 |
By: Johnson |
Emerging Issues In Texas Law Enforcement, Select |
Committee Report (Substituted) |
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Despite the widely publicized nature of police shootings, interested parties contend that there is no way to know how many shootings occur each year because current law does not require police shootings to be reported. These parties believe that this lack of information prevents policymakers and researchers from adequately studying this issue. C.S.H.B. 1036 seeks to address this concern.
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CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
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RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the office of the attorney general in SECTION 1 of this bill.
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ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 1036 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to require the office of the attorney general by rule to create, not later than October 1, 2015, a written and electronic form for the reporting by law enforcement agencies of an officer-involved injury or death, defined by the bill as an incident during which a peace officer discharges a firearm causing injury or death to another. The bill requires the form to include spaces to report only the following information: the incident date; the incident location; the age, gender, and race or ethnicity of each peace officer involved in the incident; the age, gender, and race or ethnicity of each injured or deceased person involved in the incident, if known; whether the person was injured or died as a result of the incident; and whether each injured or deceased person used, exhibited, or was carrying a deadly weapon during the incident. The bill requires, not later than the fifth day after the date of an officer-involved injury or death, the law enforcement agency employing an officer involved in the incident to complete and submit a written or electronic report to the office of the attorney general using the form created by the office and including all requisite information.
C.S.H.B. 1036 requires the office of the attorney general, not later than the fifth day after the date of receipt of a law enforcement agency's report of an officer-involved injury or death, to post a copy of the report to its website. The bill requires the office of the attorney general, not later than February 1 of each year, to submit a report regarding all officer-involved injuries or deaths that occurred during the preceding year to the governor and the standing legislative committees with primary jurisdiction over criminal justice matters and prescribes the contents of the report.
C.S.H.B. 1036 requires the office of the attorney general by rule to create, not later than October 1, 2015, a written and electronic form for the reporting by law enforcement agencies of incidents in which the discharge of a firearm by a person who is not a peace officer results in injury or death to a peace officer, while the peace officer is performing an official duty. The bill requires the form to include spaces to report only the following information: the incident date; the incident location; the age, gender, and race or ethnicity of each injured or deceased peace officer involved in the incident; the age, gender, and race or ethnicity of each person who discharged a firearm and caused injury or death to a peace officer involved in the incident, if known; whether the officer or any other person was injured or died as a result of the incident; and whether each injured or deceased person used, exhibited, or was carrying a deadly weapon during the incident. The bill requires, not later than the fifth day after the date of the occurrence of the peace officer's injury or death, the law enforcement agency employing the injured or deceased officer at the time of such an incident to complete and submit a written or electronic report to the office of the attorney general using the form created by the office and including all requisite information.
C.S.H.B. 1036 requires the office of the attorney general, not later than February 1 of each year, to submit a report regarding all such peace officer injuries or deaths that occurred during the preceding year to the governor and the standing legislative committees with primary jurisdiction over criminal justice matters and prescribes the contents of the report.
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EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2015.
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COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 1036 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
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