Bill Text: TX HB2421 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: 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.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-04-08 - Left pending in committee [HB2421 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HB2421-Introduced.html
86R11847 JSC-F | ||
By: Smith | H.B. No. 2421 |
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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 [ |
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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 [ |
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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. |