Bill Text: TX SB11 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the enforcement of state and federal laws governing immigration by certain governmental entities.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 3)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-01 - Co-author authorized [SB11 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-SB11-Introduced.html

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82R7015 PAM-D
By: Williams S.B. No. 11

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the enforcement of state and federal laws governing
immigration by certain governmental entities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 370, Local Government Code, is amended
by adding Section 370.0031 to read as follows:
Sec. 370.0031. LOCAL GOVERNMENT POLICY REGARDING
ENFORCEMENT OF STATE AND FEDERAL IMMIGRATION LAWS. (a) This
section applies to:
(1) the governing body of a municipality, county, or
special district or authority;
(2) an officer, employee, or other body that is part of
a municipality, county, or special district or authority, including
a sheriff, municipal police department, municipal attorney, or
county attorney; or
(3) a district attorney or criminal district attorney.
(b) An entity described by Subsection (a) may not adopt a
rule, order, ordinance, or policy under which the entity prohibits
the enforcement of the laws of this state or federal law relating to
immigrants or immigration, including the federal Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. Section 1101 et seq.).
(c) In compliance with Subsection (b), an entity described
by Subsection (a) may not prohibit a person employed by or otherwise
under the direction or control of the entity from doing any of the
following:
(1) inquiring into the immigration status of a person
lawfully detained or arrested;
(2) with respect to information relating to the
immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any person lawfully
detained or arrested:
(A) sending the information to or requesting or
receiving the information from United States Citizenship and
Immigration Services or United States Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, including information regarding an individual's place
of birth;
(B) maintaining the information; or
(C) exchanging the information with another
federal, state, or local governmental entity;
(3) assisting or cooperating with a federal
immigration officer as reasonable and necessary, including
providing enforcement assistance; or
(4) permitting a federal immigration officer to enter
and conduct enforcement activities at a municipal or county jail to
enforce federal immigration laws.
(d) An entity described by Subsection (a) may not receive
state grant funds if the entity adopts a rule, order, ordinance, or
policy under which the entity prohibits the enforcement of the laws
of this state or federal laws relating to Subsection (b) or, by
consistent actions, prohibits the enforcement of the laws of this
state or federal laws relating to Subsection (b). State grant funds
for the entity shall be denied for the fiscal year following the
year in which the rule, order, ordinance, or policy is adopted or
the determination is made that the entity has intentionally
prohibited the enforcement of the laws of this state or federal laws
relating to Subsection (b). The governor's office may issue
guidelines to implement this subsection uniformly among the state
agencies from which state grant funds are distributed to an entity.
(e) The attorney general may file a petition for a writ of
mandamus or apply for other appropriate equitable relief in a
district court of a county in which the principal office of an
entity described by Subsection (a) is located to compel the entity
that adopts a rule, order, ordinance, or policy under which the
local entity prohibits the enforcement of the laws of this state or
federal laws relating to Subsection (b) or that, by consistent
actions, prohibits the enforcement of the laws of this state or
federal laws relating to Subsection (b) to comply with Subsection
(b). The attorney general may recover reasonable expenses incurred
in obtaining relief under this subsection, including court costs,
reasonable attorney's fees, investigative costs, witness fees, and
deposition costs.
SECTION 2. The heading to Chapter 370, Local Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
CHAPTER 370. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS RELATING TO [MUNICIPAL
AND COUNTY] HEALTH AND PUBLIC SAFETY APPLYING TO MORE THAN ONE
TYPE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.