BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3846

By: Smithee

Government Transparency & Operation

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Interested parties report that a supplier of drugs used in executions had received credible threats to the supplier's safety. Recently, the attorney general authorized withholding supplier information requested under the state public information law on the grounds that the public information law allows for limiting the release of information that may put individuals at risk of personal harm. C.S.H.B. 3846 seeks to codify this authorization.

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.

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

C.S.H.B. 3846 amends the Government Code and Code of Criminal Procedure to make confidential and exempt from disclosure under state public information law the identifying information of any person who participates in an execution procedure, including a person who uses, supplies, or administers a substance during the execution, and any person or entity that manufactures, transports, tests, procures, compounds, prescribes, dispenses, or provides a substance or supplies used in an execution.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2015.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 3846 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.

INTRODUCED	HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
SECTION 1.  Subchapter C,  Chapter 552, Government Code, is amended by adding Section 552.1081 to read as follows: Sec. 552.1081.  EXCEPTION: CONFIDENTIALITY OF CERTAIN INFORMATION REGARDING EXECUTION OF CONVICT.  Information is excepted from the requirements of Section 552.021 if it contains identifying information under Article 43.14, Code of Criminal Procedure, including that of: (1)  any person who participates in an execution procedure, including a person who uses supplies or administers a substance during the execution; and (2)  any person or entity that manufactures, compounds, prescribes, dispenses, or provides a substance or supplies used in an execution.	SECTION 1.  Subchapter C,  Chapter 552, Government Code, is amended by adding Section 552.1081 to read as follows: Sec. 552.1081.  EXCEPTION: CONFIDENTIALITY OF CERTAIN INFORMATION REGARDING EXECUTION OF CONVICT.  Information is excepted from the requirements of Section 552.021 if it contains identifying information under Article 43.14, Code of Criminal Procedure, including that of: (1)  any person who participates in an execution procedure, including a person who uses, supplies, or administers a substance during the execution; and (2)  any person or entity that manufactures, transports, tests, procures, compounds, prescribes, dispenses, or provides a substance or supplies used in an execution.
SECTION 2.  Article 43.14, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows: Art. 43.14.  EXECUTION OF CONVICT: CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION [CONVICT].  (a) Whenever the sentence of death is pronounced against a convict, the sentence shall be executed at any time after the hour of 6 p.m. on the day set for the execution, by intravenous injection of a substance or substances in a lethal quantity sufficient to cause death and until such convict is dead, such execution procedure to be determined and supervised by the director of the correctional institutions division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. (b)  The name, address, and other identifying information of the following is confidential and excepted from disclosure under Section 552.021, Government Code: (1)  any person who participates in an execution procedure described by Subsection (a), including a person who uses supplies or administers a substance during the execution; and (2)  any person or entity that manufactures, compounds, prescribes, dispenses, or provides a substance or supplies used in an execution.	SECTION 2.  Article 43.14, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows: Art. 43.14.  EXECUTION OF CONVICT: CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION [CONVICT].  (a) Whenever the sentence of death is pronounced against a convict, the sentence shall be executed at any time after the hour of 6 p.m. on the day set for the execution, by intravenous injection of a substance or substances in a lethal quantity sufficient to cause death and until such convict is dead, such execution procedure to be determined and supervised by the director of the correctional institutions division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. (b)  The name, address, and other identifying information of the following is confidential and excepted from disclosure under Section 552.021, Government Code: (1)  any person who participates in an execution procedure described by Subsection (a), including a person who uses, supplies, or administers a substance during the execution; and (2)  any person or entity that manufactures, transports, tests, procures, compounds, prescribes, dispenses, or provides a substance or supplies used in an execution.
SECTION 3.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to a request for information that is received by a governmental body or an officer for public information on or after the effective date of this Act. A request for information that was received before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the request was received, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.	SECTION 3. Same as introduced version.
SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2015.	SECTION 4. Same as introduced version.