Bill Text: TX SB112 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Relating to the procedures for the installation and use of tracking equipment and for access to certain communications and location information by law enforcement and the admissibility of certain evidence obtained through those procedures.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)

Status: (Passed) 2021-06-14 - Effective on 9/1/21 [SB112 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-SB112-Enrolled.html

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S.B. No. 112

AN ACT
relating to the procedures for the installation and use of tracking
equipment and for access to certain communications and location
information by law enforcement and the admissibility of certain
evidence obtained through those procedures.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 18.01(b), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
(b) No search warrant shall issue for any purpose in this
state unless sufficient facts are first presented to satisfy the
issuing magistrate that probable cause does in fact exist for its
issuance. A sworn affidavit setting forth substantial facts
establishing probable cause shall be filed in every instance in
which a search warrant is requested. Except as otherwise provided
by this code [provided by Article 18.011], the affidavit becomes
public information when the search warrant for which the affidavit
was presented is executed, and the magistrate's clerk shall make a
copy of the affidavit available for public inspection in the
clerk's office during normal business hours.
SECTION 2. Article 18.06(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) A peace officer to whom a search warrant is delivered
shall execute the warrant without delay and shall [forthwith]
return the warrant to the proper magistrate. [A search warrant
issued under Article 18B.354 must be executed in the manner
provided by Article 18B.355 not later than the 11th day after the
date of issuance. In all other cases, a search warrant must be
executed within three days from the time of its issuance. A warrant
issued under this chapter, Chapter 18A, or Chapter 18B shall be
executed within a shorter period if so directed in the warrant by
the magistrate.]
SECTION 3. Article 18.07(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
(a) Unless the magistrate directs in the warrant a shorter
period for the execution of any search warrant issued under this
chapter, Chapter 18A, or Chapter 18B, the [The] period allowed for
the execution of the [a search] warrant, exclusive of the day of its
issuance and of the day of its execution, is:
(1) 15 whole days if the warrant is issued solely to
search for and seize specimens from a specific person for DNA
analysis and comparison, including blood and saliva samples;
(2) 10 whole days if the warrant is issued under
Article 18B.354 or Subchapter G-1, Chapter 18B; or
(3) three whole days if the warrant is issued for a
purpose other than that described by Subdivision (1) or (2).
SECTION 4. Article 18B.001, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by amending Subdivision (7) and adding Subdivisions (9-a)
and (9-b) to read as follows:
(7) "Electronic customer data" means data or records
that:
(A) are in the possession, care, custody, or
control of a provider of an electronic communications service or
provider of a remote computing service; and
(B) contain:
(i) information revealing the identity of
customers of the applicable service;
(ii) information about a customer's use of
the applicable service;
(iii) information that identifies the
recipient or destination of a wire or electronic communication sent
to or by a customer;
(iv) the content of a wire or electronic
communication sent to or by a customer; [and]
(v) any data stored with the applicable
service provider by or on behalf of a customer; or
(vi) location information.
(9-a) "Immediate life-threatening situation" has the
meaning assigned by Article 18A.201.
(9-b) "Location information" means data, records, or
other information that is created by or accessible to a provider of
an electronic communications service or a provider of a remote
computing service and may be used to identify the geographic
physical location of a communication device, including the current,
real-time, or prospective geographic physical location of a
communication device.
SECTION 5. Article 18B.202(c), Code of Criminal Procedure,
is amended to read as follows:
(c) The affidavit must:
(1) state the name, department, agency, and address of
the applicant;
(2) identify the vehicle, container, or item to which,
in which, or on which the mobile tracking device is to be attached,
placed, or otherwise installed;
(3) state the name of the owner or possessor of the
vehicle, container, or item identified under Subdivision (2);
(4) state the judicial jurisdictional area in which
the vehicle, container, or item identified under Subdivision (2) is
expected to be found; and
(5) state the facts and circumstances that provide the
applicant with probable cause to believe [a reasonable suspicion]
that:
(A) criminal activity has been, is, or will be
committed; and
(B) the installation and use of a mobile tracking
device is likely to produce information that is material to an
ongoing criminal investigation of that criminal activity.
SECTION 6. Chapter 18B, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subchapter G-1 to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER G-1. PROSPECTIVE LOCATION INFORMATION
Art. 18B.321. APPLICABILITY. (a) This subchapter applies
only to a warrant described by Article 18B.322 for the required
disclosure of location information that is:
(1) held in electronic storage in the possession,
care, custody, or control of a provider of an electronic
communications service or a provider of a remote computing service;
and
(2) created after the issuance of the warrant.
(b) Articles 18B.355, 18B.356, and 18B.357 apply to a
warrant issued under this subchapter in the same manner as those
articles apply to a warrant issued under Article 18B.354.
Art. 18B.322. WARRANT REQUIRED FOR CERTAIN LOCATION
INFORMATION HELD IN ELECTRONIC STORAGE. (a) A warrant is required
to obtain the disclosure of location information described by
Article 18B.321(a) by a provider of an electronic communications
service or a provider of a remote computing service.
(b) Only a prosecutor or a prosecutor's assistant with
jurisdiction in a county within a judicial district described by
Article 18B.052(4) may file an application for a warrant under this
subchapter. The application must be supported by the sworn
affidavit required by Article 18.01(b).
(c) The application must be filed with a district judge in
the applicable judicial district on:
(1) the prosecutor's or assistant's own motion; or
(2) the request of an authorized peace officer of a
designated law enforcement office or agency or an authorized peace
officer commissioned by the department.
Art. 18B.323. ISSUANCE OF WARRANT. (a) On the filing of an
application for a warrant under this subchapter, a district judge
may issue the warrant to obtain the disclosure of location
information by a provider described by Article 18B.355(b),
regardless of whether the location information is held at a
location in this state or another state.
(b) A warrant may not be issued under this article unless
the sworn affidavit required by Article 18.01(b) provides
sufficient and substantial facts to establish probable cause that:
(1) the disclosure of the location information sought
will:
(A) produce evidence of an offense under
investigation; or
(B) result in the apprehension of a fugitive from
justice; and
(2) the location information sought is held in
electronic storage in the possession, care, custody, or control of
the service provider on which the warrant is served.
Art. 18B.324. DURATION; SEALING. (a) A warrant issued
under this subchapter is valid for a period not to exceed 60 days
after the date the warrant is issued, unless the prosecutor or
prosecutor's assistant applies for and obtains an extension of that
period from the court before the warrant expires.
(b) Each extension granted under Subsection (a) may not
exceed a period of 60 days.
(c) A district court that issues a warrant under this
subchapter shall order the warrant and the application for the
warrant sealed and may not unseal the warrant and application until
after the warrant expires.
Art. 18B.325. EMERGENCY DISCLOSURE. (a) An authorized
peace officer of a designated law enforcement office or agency or an
authorized peace officer commissioned by the department may,
without a warrant, require the disclosure of location information
described by Article 18B.321(a) if:
(1) the officer reasonably believes an immediate
life-threatening situation exists that:
(A) is within the officer's territorial
jurisdiction; and
(B) requires the disclosure of the location
information before a warrant can, with due diligence, be obtained
under this subchapter; and
(2) there are sufficient grounds under this subchapter
on which to obtain a warrant requiring the disclosure of the
location information.
(b) Not later than 48 hours after requiring disclosure of
location information without a warrant under Subsection (a), the
authorized peace officer shall obtain a warrant for that purpose in
accordance with this subchapter.
Art. 18B.326. CERTAIN EVIDENCE NOT ADMISSIBLE. The state
may not use as evidence in a criminal proceeding any information
obtained through the required disclosure of location information
described by Article 18B.321(a), unless:
(1) a warrant is obtained before requiring the
disclosure; or
(2) if the disclosure is required under Article
18B.325 before a warrant can be obtained, the authorized peace
officer who required the disclosure obtains a warrant as required
by Subsection (b) of that article.
SECTION 7. Article 18B.151(a), Code of Criminal Procedure,
is repealed.
SECTION 8. The changes in law made by this Act to Chapter
18B, Code of Criminal Procedure, relating to the disclosure of
certain information by a provider of an electronic communications
service or a provider of a remote computing service under a warrant,
order, or other legal process apply only to a disclosure made on or
after the effective date of this Act.
SECTION 9. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 112 passed the Senate on
April 29, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendment on May 28, 2021, by the
following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 112 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 25, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 120,
Nays 22, three present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor