Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1487 by West (Relating to preventing racial profiling and video and audio equipment and recordings of certain law enforcement motor vehicle stops; creating an offense.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Occupations Code relating to preventing racial profiling, video and audio recordings of certain law enforcement motor vehicle stops, and creating an offense.
Specifically, the bill would: 1) Amend the Occupations Code to stipulate that the law regarding the release or retention of body-worn camera video or audio is the same as the law regarding a video recorded by police vehicles' dashboard cameras;
2) Amend the Occupations Code to authorize the Attorney General to set a fee to be charged to members of the public seeking a copy of a motor vehicle stop recording. The Comptroller states the potential revenues raised from this new fee cannot be determined at this time. Also, a law enforcement agency would be authorized to provide a copy of such a recording without charge or at a reduced charge; and
3) Create an offense as a Class A misdemeanor if a peace officer or other employee of a law enforcement agency releases a motor vehicle stop recording without permission of the applicable law enforcement agency.
It is assumed any costs associated with implementing the provisions of the bill could be absorbed within existing resources.
This bill would take effect September 1, 2017.
Local Government Impact
According to the Texas Association of Counties, the bill could have a significant fiscal impact to counties if the fee amount set by the Attorney General is not sufficient to cover time, manpower, storage and equipment costs required to review, redact, and copy information from videos.
Source Agencies:
302 Office of the Attorney General, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 405 Department of Public Safety, 407 Commission on Law Enforcement