| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to access to and review of information by a law enforcement |
|
|
agency regarding a potential employee of the agency. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Section 1701.451, Occupations Code, is amended |
|
|
by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (d) and (e) to |
|
|
read as follows: |
|
|
(a) Before a law enforcement agency may hire a person |
|
|
licensed under this chapter, the agency head or the agency head's |
|
|
designee must: |
|
|
(1) make a request to the commission for any |
|
|
employment termination report regarding the person that is |
|
|
maintained by the commission under this subchapter; and |
|
|
(2) submit to the commission on the form prescribed by |
|
|
the commission confirmation that the agency: |
|
|
(A) conducted in the manner prescribed by the |
|
|
commission a criminal background check regarding the person; |
|
|
(B) obtained the person's written consent on a |
|
|
form prescribed by the commission for the agency to view the |
|
|
person's employment records; |
|
|
(C) obtained from the commission any service or |
|
|
education records regarding the person maintained by the |
|
|
commission; and |
|
|
(D) reviewed the person's employment records |
|
|
from [contacted] each of the person's previous law enforcement |
|
|
employers. |
|
|
(d) A law enforcement agency's failure to review a person's |
|
|
employment records as required by Subsection (a)(2)(D) or to make a |
|
|
person's employment records available as required by Subsection |
|
|
(a-1) constitutes grounds for imposing an administrative penalty |
|
|
under Section 1701.507. |
|
|
(e) To the extent of any conflict between this section and |
|
|
Section 143.089, Local Government Code, this section controls. |
|
|
SECTION 2. (a) Not later than December 1, 2015, the Texas |
|
|
Commission on Law Enforcement shall update forms as necessary to |
|
|
comply with Section 1701.451, Occupations Code, as amended by this |
|
|
Act. |
|
|
(b) Section 1701.451, Occupations Code, as amended by this |
|
|
Act, applies only to the hiring of a person by a law enforcement |
|
|
agency that occurs on or after December 1, 2015. The hiring of a |
|
|
person by a law enforcement agency that occurs before that date is |
|
|
governed by the law in effect immediately before the effective date |
|
|
of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that |
|
|
purpose. |
|
|
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015. |