Bill Text: TX HB245 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Enrolled


Bill Title: Relating to certain reporting requirements for law enforcement agencies and to the creation of a criminal justice web portal by the office of the attorney general; providing a civil penalty.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2017-06-15 - Effective on 9/1/17 [HB245 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HB245-Enrolled.html
 
 
  H.B. No. 245
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to certain reporting requirements for law enforcement
  agencies and to the creation of a criminal justice web portal by the
  office of the attorney general; providing a civil penalty.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Articles 2.139(c) and (e), Code of Criminal
  Procedure, as added by Chapter 516 (H.B. 1036), Acts of the 84th
  Legislature, Regular Session, 2015, are amended to read as follows:
         (c)  Not later than the 30th day after the date of an
  officer-involved injury or death, the law enforcement agency
  employing an officer involved in the incident must complete and
  submit a written or electronic report, using the form created under
  Subsection (b), to the office of the attorney general [and, if the
  agency maintains an Internet website, post a copy of the report on
  the agency's website]. The report must include all information
  described in Subsection (b).
         (e)  Not later than March [February] 1 of each year, the
  office of the attorney general shall submit a report regarding all
  officer-involved injuries or deaths that occurred during the
  preceding year to the governor and the standing legislative
  committees with primary jurisdiction over criminal justice
  matters. The report must include:
               (1)  the total number of officer-involved injuries or
  deaths;
               (2)  a summary of the reports submitted to the office
  under this article; and
               (3)  a copy of each report submitted to the office under
  this article.
         SECTION 2.  Articles 2.1395(b) and (c), Code of Criminal
  Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
         (b)  Not later than the 30th day after the date of the
  occurrence of an incident described by Subsection (a), the law
  enforcement agency employing the injured or deceased officer at the
  time of the incident must complete and submit a written or
  electronic report, using the form created under that subsection, to
  the office of the attorney general [and, if the agency maintains an
  Internet website, post a copy of the report on the agency's
  website].  The report must include all information described in
  Subsection (a).
         (c)  Not later than March [February] 1 of each year, the
  office of the attorney general shall submit a report regarding all
  incidents described by Subsection (a) that occurred during the
  preceding year to the governor and the standing legislative
  committees with primary jurisdiction over criminal justice
  matters. The report must include:
               (1)  the total number of incidents that occurred;
               (2)  a summary of the reports submitted to the office
  under this article; and
               (3)  a copy of each report submitted to the office under
  this article.
         SECTION 3.  Chapter 2, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended by adding Article 2.13951 to read as follows:
         Art. 2.13951.  NOTICE OF VIOLATION OF REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
  FOR CERTAIN INJURIES OR DEATHS; CIVIL PENALTY. (a) The office of
  the attorney general shall conduct an investigation after receiving
  a written and signed report, on a form prescribed by the office,
  asserting that a law enforcement agency failed to submit a report
  required by Article 2.139 or 2.1395. If the office determines that
  the law enforcement agency failed to submit the report, the office
  shall provide notice of the failure to the agency. The notice must
  summarize the applicable reporting requirement and state that the
  agency may be subject to a civil penalty as provided by Subsection
  (b) or (c), as applicable.
         (b)  Except as provided by Subsection (c), a law enforcement
  agency that fails to submit the required report on or before the
  seventh day after the date of receiving notice under Subsection (a)
  is liable for a civil penalty in the amount of $1,000 for each day
  after the seventh day that the agency fails to submit the report. 
         (c)  Beginning on the day after the date of receiving notice
  under Subsection (a), a law enforcement agency that, in the
  five-year period preceding the date the agency received the notice,
  has been liable for a civil penalty under Subsection (b) or this
  subsection is liable for a civil penalty for each day the agency
  fails to submit the required report. The amount of a civil penalty
  under this subsection is $10,000 for the first day and $1,000 for
  each additional day that the agency fails to submit the report. 
         (d)  The attorney general may sue to collect a civil penalty
  under this article.
         (e)  A civil penalty collected under this article shall be
  deposited to the credit of the compensation to victims of crime fund
  established under Subchapter B, Chapter 56.
         SECTION 4.  Article 2.139, Code of Criminal Procedure, as
  added by Chapter 1124 (H.B. 3791), Acts of the 84th Legislature,
  Regular Session, 2015, is redesignated as Article 2.1396, Code of
  Criminal Procedure, to read as follows:
         Art. 2.1396 [2.139].  VIDEO RECORDINGS OF ARRESTS FOR
  INTOXICATION OFFENSES.  A person stopped or arrested on suspicion
  of an offense under Section 49.04, 49.045, 49.07, or 49.08, Penal
  Code, is entitled to receive from a law enforcement agency
  employing the peace officer who made the stop or arrest a copy of
  any video made by or at the direction of the officer that contains
  footage of:
               (1)  the stop;
               (2)  the arrest;
               (3)  the conduct of the person stopped during any
  interaction with the officer, including during the administration
  of a field sobriety test; or
               (4)  a procedure in which a specimen of the person's
  breath or blood is taken.
         
         SECTION 5.  The changes in law made by this Act to Chapter 2,
  Code of Criminal Procedure, apply only to a report required to be
  submitted on or after the effective date of this Act.  A report
  required to be submitted before the effective date of this Act is
  subject to the law in effect at the time the report was required to
  be submitted, and the former law is continued in effect for that
  purpose.
         SECTION 6.  To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
  over another Act of the 85th Legislature, Regular Session, 2017,
  relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
  codes.
         SECTION 7.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 245 was passed by the House on May 12,
  2017, by the following vote:  Yeas 112, Nays 21, 2 present, not
  voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
  No. 245 on May 26, 2017, by the following vote:  Yeas 137, Nays 8, 2
  present, not voting.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 245 was passed by the Senate, with
  amendments, on May 23, 2017, by the following vote:  Yeas 28, Nays
  3.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate   
  APPROVED: __________________
                  Date       
   
           __________________
                Governor       
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