By: Birdwell, Blanco  S.B. No. 2201
         (In the Senate - Filed March 11, 2025; March 25, 2025, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Border Security;
  April 15, 2025, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 1; April 15, 2025,
  sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 2201 By:  Birdwell
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to intelligence databases for combinations, criminal
  street gangs, and foreign terrorist organizations.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Article 67.053, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended by adding Subsection (b-1) and amending Subsection (c) to
  read as follows:
         (b-1)  The department shall develop and make available a
  minimum training course for access to and use of the intelligence
  database established by the department under Article 67.052.
  Before a person may access and use the intelligence database, the
  person must complete the minimum training course described by this
  subsection.
         (c)  The department shall adopt rules necessary to implement
  this article, including the content of the training course required
  by Subsection (b-1).
         SECTION 2.  Article 67.054, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to
  read as follows:
         (b)  Criminal information collected under this chapter
  relating to a criminal street gang or foreign terrorist
  organization must:
               (1)  be relevant to the identification of an
  organization that is reasonably suspected of involvement in
  criminal activity; and
               (2)  consist of:
                     (A)  a judgment under any law that includes, as a
  finding or as an element of a criminal offense, participation in a
  criminal street gang or foreign terrorist organization;
                     (B)  a self-admission, which may be implied or
  demonstrated, by an individual of membership in a criminal street
  gang or foreign terrorist organization, including the use of the
  Internet or other electronic format or medium to post photographs
  or other documentation identifying the individual as a member of a
  criminal street gang or foreign terrorist organization [that is
  made during a judicial proceeding]; or
                     (C)  [except as provided by Subsection (c),] any
  two of the following:
                           (i)  [a self-admission by the individual of
  membership in a criminal street gang or foreign terrorist
  organization that is not made during a judicial proceeding,
  including the use of the Internet or other electronic format or
  medium to post photographs or other documentation identifying the
  individual as a member of a criminal street gang or foreign
  terrorist organization;
                           [(ii)]  an identification of the individual
  as a member of a criminal street gang or foreign terrorist
  organization by a documented criminal street gang member or foreign
  terrorist organization member or a family member [reliable
  informant or other individual;
                           [(iii)  a corroborated identification of the
  individual as a member of a criminal street gang or foreign
  terrorist organization by an informant or other individual of
  unknown reliability];
                           (ii) [(iv)]  evidence that the individual
  frequents or is located at a previously documented area of a
  criminal street gang or foreign terrorist organization, including
  physical, digital, or online locations [and associates with known
  members of a criminal street gang or foreign terrorist
  organization];
                           (iii) [(v)]  evidence that the individual
  uses, in more than an incidental manner, criminal street gang or
  foreign terrorist organization dress, hand signals, tattoos, or
  symbols, including expressions of letters, numbers, words, or
  marks, regardless of how or the means by which the symbols are
  displayed, that are associated with a criminal street gang or
  foreign terrorist organization [that operates in an area frequented
  by the individual and described by Subparagraph (iv)];
                           (iv) [(vi)]  evidence that the individual
  has been arrested or taken into custody [with known members of a
  criminal street gang or foreign terrorist organization] for an
  offense or conduct consistent with gang activity as defined by
  Section 125.061, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, with:
                                 (a)  known members of a criminal street
  gang or foreign terrorist organization; or
                                 (b)  individuals who use, in more than
  an incidental manner, criminal street gang or foreign terrorist
  organization dress, hand signals, tattoos, or symbols, including
  expressions of letters, numbers, words, or marks, regardless of how
  or the means by which the symbols are displayed, that are associated
  with a criminal street gang or foreign terrorist organization;
                           (v) [(vii)]  evidence that the individual
  communicates, whether in person, in writing, or electronically,
  with [has visited] a known member of a criminal street gang or
  foreign terrorist organization[, other than a family member of the
  individual,] while the member is confined in or committed to a penal
  institution; or
                           (vi) [(viii)]  evidence of the individual's
  use of technology, including the Internet and social media, to
  advertise the criminal street gang or foreign terrorist
  organization or recruit new members of a criminal street gang or
  foreign terrorist organization.
         (b-1)  If a law enforcement officer has reasonable suspicion
  that an individual is associated with a criminal street gang or
  foreign terrorist organization as a result of meeting the criteria
  to be included in the intelligence database, the officer's name and
  department must be included in the database with the individual's
  submitted information.
         SECTION 3.  Article 67.151(b), Code of Criminal Procedure,
  is amended to read as follows: 
         (b)  Information that is [Subject to Subsection (c),
  information] collected about an individual under this chapter and
  that relates [relating] to a criminal street gang must be removed
  after five years from an intelligence database established under
  Article 67.051 and the intelligence database maintained by the
  department under Article 67.052 unless [if:
               [(1)]  the information continues to meet the submission
  criteria under Article 67.054 to be included in those intelligence
  databases [relates to the investigation or prosecution of criminal
  activity engaged in by an individual other than a child; and
               [(2)  the individual who is the subject of the
  information has not been arrested for criminal activity reported to
  the department under Chapter 66].
         SECTION 4.  Article 67.152(b), Code of Criminal Procedure,
  is amended to read as follows:
         (b)  Information that is [Subject to Subsection (c),
  information] collected about a child under this chapter and that
  relates [relating] to a criminal street gang must be removed after
  two years from an intelligence database established under Article
  67.051 and the intelligence database maintained by the department
  under Article 67.052 unless [if:
               [(1)]  the information continues to meet the submission
  criteria under Article 67.054 to be included in those intelligence
  databases [relates to the investigation or prosecution of criminal
  activity engaged in by a child; and
               [(2)  the child who is the subject of the information
  has not been:
                     [(A)  arrested for criminal activity reported to
  the department under Chapter 66; or
                     [(B)  taken into custody for delinquent conduct
  reported to the department under Chapter 58, Family Code].
         SECTION 5.  Subchapter D, Chapter 67, Code of Criminal
  Procedure, is amended by adding Article 67.153 to read as follows:
         Art. 67.153.  AUDIT. The state auditor annually shall
  conduct an audit of information that is held in the department's
  intelligence database maintained under Article 67.052.
         SECTION 6.  The following provisions of the Code of Criminal
  Procedure are repealed:
               (1)  Article 67.054(c);
               (2)  Article 67.151(c); and
               (3)  Article 67.152(c).
         SECTION 7.  (a) The Department of Public Safety shall
  develop and make available the minimum training course required by
  Article 67.053(b-1), Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by this
  Act, not later than January 1, 2026.
         (b)  A person who begins accessing the intelligence database
  maintained under Chapter 67, Code of Criminal Procedure, before
  January 1, 2026, is not required to take the minimum training course
  described by Article 67.053(b-1), Code of Criminal Procedure, as
  added by this Act, before January 1, 2027.
         SECTION 8.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
 
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