84R8798 LEH-F
 
  By: Hinojosa S.B. No. 1960
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the release of bulk criminal history record information
  by certain individuals and agencies.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter C, Chapter 552, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Section 552.1426 to read as follows:
         Sec. 552.1426.  DISSEMINATION OF BULK CRIMINAL HISTORY
  RECORD INFORMATION. (a) In this section:
               (1)  "Bulk criminal history record information
  request" means a request submitted to a district clerk, county
  clerk, clerk of a justice or municipal court, or criminal justice
  agency for production, in any format, of all or a significant
  portion of the criminal history record information maintained by
  that clerk, court, or agency.
               (2)  "Criminal history record information" means
  information about a person that is collected or maintained by a
  district clerk, county clerk, clerk of a justice or municipal
  court, or a criminal justice agency and that consists of
  identifiable descriptions and notations of arrests, detentions,
  indictments, informations, and other formal criminal charges and
  their dispositions. The term does not include:
                     (A)  identification information, including
  fingerprint records, to the extent that the identification
  information does not indicate involvement of the person in the
  criminal justice system;
                     (B)  traffic offense information maintained by a
  clerk of a municipal or justice court; or
                     (C)  driving record information maintained by the
  Department of Public Safety under Subchapter C, Chapter 521,
  Transportation Code.
               (3)  "Criminal justice agency" has the meaning assigned
  by Section 411.082.
         (b)  A district clerk, county clerk, clerk of a justice or
  municipal court, or criminal justice agency, other than the
  Department of Public Safety, that receives from any person or
  entity a bulk criminal history record information request
  concerning Class A or Class B or felony offenses for which a final
  judgment has been rendered shall deny the request and provide the
  requestor with instructions for submitting a bulk criminal history
  record information request to the Department of Public Safety.
         (c)  A district clerk, county clerk, clerk of a justice or
  municipal court, or criminal justice agency that grants a bulk
  criminal history record information request submitted by any person
  or entity and that concerns Class C offenses for which final
  judgment has been rendered or offenses that are pending final
  disposition shall:
               (1)  maintain a record of the name and contact
  information of the requestor and the most recent date criminal
  history record information was provided to the requestor; and
               (2)  publish the record on the clerk's or agency's
  Internet website or, if the clerk or agency does not maintain an
  Internet website, prominently display the record in a public area
  of the clerk's or agency's place of business.
         (d)  This section does not restrict public access to criminal
  history record information, other than through a bulk criminal
  history record information request, or limit the general discretion
  or authority of any district clerk, county clerk, clerk of a justice
  or municipal court, or criminal justice agency.
         SECTION 2.  Section 411.087(a), Government Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (a)  Unless otherwise authorized by Subsection (e), a
  person, agency, department, political subdivision, or other entity
  that is authorized by this subchapter to obtain from the department
  criminal history record information maintained by the department
  that relates to another person is authorized to:
               (1)  obtain through the Federal Bureau of Investigation
  criminal history record information maintained or indexed by that
  bureau that pertains to that person; or
               (2)  obtain from any other criminal justice agency in
  this state criminal history record information maintained by that
  criminal justice agency that relates to that person, except as
  otherwise provided by Section 552.1426.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.