86R11847 JSC-F
 
  By: Smith H.B. No. 2421
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the issuance of certain warrants and orders for
  searches performed on wireless communications devices and for the
  installation and use of certain tracking equipment.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Articles 18.0215(b) and (c), Code of Criminal
  Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
         (b)  A warrant under this article may be issued only by a
  judge in the same judicial district or county as the site of:
               (1)  the law enforcement agency that employs the peace
  officer, if the cellular telephone or other wireless communications
  device is in the officer's possession; or
               (2)  the likely location of the telephone or device.
         (c)  A judge may issue a warrant under this article only on
  the application of a peace officer.  An application must be written
  and signed and sworn to or affirmed before the judge.  The
  application must:
               (1)  state the name, department, agency, and address of
  the applicant;
               (2)  identify the cellular telephone or other wireless
  communications device to be searched;
               (3)  state the name of the owner or possessor of the
  telephone or device to be searched;
               (4)  state the judicial district or county, as
  applicable, in which:
                     (A)  the law enforcement agency that employs the
  peace officer is located, if the  telephone or device is in the
  officer's possession; or
                     (B)  the telephone or device is likely to be
  located; and
               (5)  state the facts and circumstances that provide the
  applicant with probable cause to believe that:
                     (A)  criminal activity has been, is, or will be
  committed; and
                     (B)  searching the telephone or device is likely
  to produce evidence in the investigation of the criminal activity
  described in Paragraph (A).
         SECTION 2.  Article 18B.052, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended to read as follows:
         Art. 18B.052.  JURISDICTION. (a) Except as otherwise
  provided by Subsection (b), an  [An] application under this
  subchapter must be filed in a judicial district in which is located:
               (1)  the site of the proposed installation or use of the
  device or equipment;
               (2)  the site of the communication device on which the
  device or equipment is proposed to be installed or used;
               (3)  the billing, residential, or business address of
  the subscriber to the electronic communications service on which
  the device or equipment is proposed to be installed or used;
               (4)  the headquarters of:
                     (A)  the office of the prosecutor filing an
  application under this subchapter; or
                     (B)  a law enforcement agency that requests the
  prosecutor to file an application under this subchapter or that
  proposes to execute an order authorizing installation and use of
  the device or equipment; or
               (5)  the headquarters of a service provider ordered to
  install the device or equipment.
         (b)  If a district judge in the judicial district described
  by Subsection (a) is not available, the application may be filed
  with a district judge in a judicial district for a county that is
  contiguous with a county containing any of the locations specified
  by Subsection (a).
         SECTION 3.  Article 18B.203, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (a-1) to
  read as follows:
         (a)  As authorized under Subsection (a-1), a [A] district
  judge may issue an order for the installation and use of a mobile
  tracking device in the same judicial district as the site of:
               (1)  the investigation; or
               (2)  the person, vehicle, container, item, or object
  the movement of which will be tracked by the device.
         (a-1)  An order under Subsection (a) may be issued by a
  district judge in a judicial district containing a location
  specified by that subsection or, if that district judge is not
  available, with a district judge in a judicial district for a county
  that is contiguous with a county containing any of the locations
  specified by Subsection (a).
         SECTION 4.  The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
  an application for a warrant or court order submitted on or after
  the effective date of this Act. An application for a warrant or
  court order submitted before the effective date of this Act is
  governed by the law in effect on the date the application was
  submitted, and the former law is continued in effect for that
  purpose.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.