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

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
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-Engrossed.html
 
 
  By: Johnson of Dallas, Price, H.B. No. 245
      Thompson of Harris, White, Phillips
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to certain reporting requirements for law enforcement
  agencies; 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 report or other information 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.
         SECTION 5.  The changes in law made by this Act 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.
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