McLaughlin’s Family Violence Registry Needs Donations To Exist

The text as introduced · 1,785 words

89R11272 CJD-D

By: McLaughlin
H.B. No. 2956

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a central database containing information about certain

persons who have been convicted of or received a grant of deferred

adjudication community supervision for certain offenses involving

family violence and related notice requirements; creating a

criminal offense.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Title 1, Code of Criminal Procedure, is amended

by adding Chapter 61 to read as follows:

CHAPTER 61. FAMILY VIOLENCE REGISTRATION PROGRAM

Art. 61.01. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:

(1) "Department" means the Department of Public

Safety.

(2) "Local law enforcement authority" has the meaning

assigned by Article 62.001.

(3) "Offense involving family violence" means an

offense:

(A) for which an affirmative finding of family

violence was made under Article 42.013;

(B) under Section 25.11, Penal Code;

(C) under Title 5, Penal Code, if the offense is

committed against a person whose relationship to or association

with the defendant is described by Section 71.0021(b), 71.003, or

71.005, Family Code; or

(D) under Section 25.07 or 25.072, Penal Code, if

the violation that is an element of the offense occurred through the

commission of an offense described by Paragraph (C).

Art. 61.02. CENTRAL DATABASE. (a) To the extent that

funding is available under Article 61.08, the department shall

establish and maintain a computerized central database containing

information regarding persons who:

(1) have been convicted of or received a grant of

deferred adjudication community supervision for one or more

offenses involving family violence; and

(2) were 17 years of age or older at the time of the

offense.

(b) If a computerized central database is established by the

department under Subsection (a), a person described by that

subsection shall register as required by this chapter until the

10th anniversary of the date the person was last convicted of or

received a grant of deferred adjudication community supervision for

an offense involving family violence.

(c) To the extent that funding is available under Article

61.08, the department, in cooperation with the Board of Pardons and

Paroles, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and the

Commission on Jail Standards, by rule shall design and implement a

system for the registration of persons described by Subsection (a).

The system must include requirements and procedures for:

(1) a person described by Subsection (a) to be

notified, before the person's discharge or release, of the person's

duty to register with a local law enforcement authority for the

period required by Subsection (b);

(2) the person to register or verify registration with

a local law enforcement authority:

(A) annually;

(B) every 90 days if the person is determined by

the department to be high risk because of the person's status as a

repeat offender; or

(C) every 30 days if the person does not have a

permanent address;

(3) the person to register with a local law

enforcement authority not later than five days after the date of a

change in the person's address;

(4) the database to track whether a person described

by Subsection (a) is in compliance with registration requirements;

(5) a local law enforcement authority to promptly

forward registration information to the department for use in the

database;

(6) the database to track whether a person described

by Subsection (a) is attending or is planning to attend a public or

private institution of higher education and, if so, the department

to promptly forward that information to the applicable institution

of higher education;

(7) the inclusion in the database and on the

department's Internet website of a recent photograph of the person,

updated annually; and

(8) the department to update the database daily.

(d) The department shall publish on its Internet website all

public information contained in the database.

Art. 61.03. PUBLIC INFORMATION. The information contained

in the computerized central database under this chapter is public

information, with the exception of any information:

(1) regarding the person's social security number or

driver's license number, or any home, work, or cellular telephone

number of the person;

(2) regarding an employer's name, address, or

telephone number; or

(3) that would identify the victim of an offense for

which the person is subject to registration.

Art. 61.04. PUBLIC NOTICE REQUIRED. (a) On notice by a

local law enforcement authority of the registration of a person

under this chapter or the person's change of address, the

department shall, not later than the 10th day after the date on

which the department received notice, provide written notice mailed

or delivered to at least each address, other than a post office box,

within a one-mile radius, in an area that has not been subdivided,

or a three-block area, in an area that has been subdivided, of the

place where the person resides. In providing written notice under

this subsection, the department shall use employees of the

department whose duties in providing the notice are in addition to

the employees' regular duties.

(b) The department shall provide the notice in English and

Spanish and shall include in the notice any information that is

public information under this chapter. The department may not

include any information that is not public information under this

chapter.

(c) The department shall establish procedures for a person

with respect to whom notice is provided under Subsection (a) to pay

to the department all costs incurred by the department in providing

the notice. The person shall pay those costs in accordance with the

procedures established under this subsection.

(d) On registration by a person subject to registration

under this chapter, a local law enforcement authority may provide

notice to the public in any manner determined appropriate by the

local law enforcement authority, including publishing notice in a

newspaper or other periodical or circular in circulation in the

area where the person resides, holding a neighborhood meeting,

posting notices in the area where the person resides, distributing

printed notices to area residents, or establishing a specialized

local website. The local law enforcement authority may include in

the notice only information that is public information under this

chapter.

(e) An owner, builder, seller, or lessor of a single-family

residential real property or any improvement to residential real

property or that person's broker, salesperson, or other agent or

representative in a residential real estate transaction does not

have a duty to make a disclosure to a prospective buyer or lessee

about registrants under this chapter.

Art. 61.05. INFORMATION PROVIDED TO LAW ENFORCEMENT ON

REQUEST. The department shall establish a procedure by which a

peace officer or an employee of a local law enforcement authority

who provides the department with a driver's license number,

personal identification certificate number, or license plate

number is automatically provided information as to whether the

person to whom the driver's license or personal identification

certificate is issued is required to register under this chapter or

whether the license plate number is assigned to a vehicle owned or

driven by a person required to register under this chapter.

Art. 61.06. EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION FOR CERTAIN FAMILY

VIOLENCE OFFENDERS. (a) A person required to register under this

chapter may petition the court having jurisdiction over the case

for an order exempting the person from registration under this

chapter at any time after the person's sentencing or after the

person is placed on deferred adjudication community supervision.

(b) After a hearing on the petition described by Subsection

(a), the court may issue an order exempting the person from

registration under this chapter if the court finds that an

exemption would be in the best interest of justice.

(c) An order exempting the person from registration under

this chapter does not expire, except that the court may withdraw the

order if after the order is issued the person receives another

conviction or a grant of deferred adjudication community

supervision for an offense involving family violence.

Art. 61.07. FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH REGISTRATION

REQUIREMENTS; OFFENSE. (a) A person commits an offense if the

person is required to register and fails to comply with any

requirement of this chapter.

(b) An offense under this article is a Class C misdemeanor.

Art. 61.08. FUNDING. The department may solicit and accept

a gift, grant, or donation from any source, including a foundation,

private entity, governmental entity, or institution of higher

education, for the establishment and maintenance of the

computerized central database described by this chapter and the

implementation of a related system of registration under this

chapter. The department shall establish and maintain the database

and implement the registration system only if sufficient funds are

available under this article for those purposes.

SECTION 2. Section 411.135(a), Government Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(a) Any person is entitled to obtain from the department:

(1) any information described as public information

under Chapter 61 or 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, including, to

the extent available, a recent photograph of each person subject to

registration under Chapter 61 or 62 [ that chapter ];

(2) criminal history record information maintained by

the department that relates to the conviction of or a grant of

deferred adjudication to a person for any criminal offense,

including arrest information that relates to the conviction or

grant of deferred adjudication; and

(3) any information described as public information

under Section 411.1355.

SECTION 3. (a) Chapter 61, Code of Criminal Procedure, as

added by this Act, applies only to a person who is convicted of or

receives a grant of deferred adjudication community supervision for

an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. A

person who is convicted of or receives a grant of deferred

adjudication community supervision for an offense committed before

the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on

the date the offense was committed, and the former law is continued

in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this subsection, an

offense was committed before the effective date of this Act if any

element of the offense occurred before that date.

(b) As soon as practicable after sufficient funding becomes

available under Article 61.08, Code of Criminal Procedure, as added

by this Act:

(1) the Department of Public Safety shall establish

the requirements and procedures required by Chapter 61, Code of

Criminal Procedure, as added by this Act; and

(2) the central database required by Chapter 61, Code

of Criminal Procedure, as added by this Act, must be designed and

implemented.

SECTION 4. 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, 2025.