Animal Cruelty Registry Gets Built Only If Donors Pay

The text as introduced · 1,174 words

89R15700 CJD-D

By: Flores
H.B. No. 4776

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to a central database containing information about persons

who have been convicted of or received a grant of deferred

adjudication community supervision after pleading guilty for

certain offenses involving animal cruelty; 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. ANIMAL CRUELTY 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.

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

funding is available under Article 61.06, 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 after pleading guilty

for one or more offenses under Section 42.091, 42.092, 42.10, or

42.107, Penal Code; 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

after pleading guilty for an offense described by Subsection

(a)(1).

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

61.06, 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.

Art. 61.03. INFORMATION PROVIDED TO LAW ENFORCEMENT ON

REQUEST. (a) In this article, "animal control officer" has the

meaning assigned by Section 829.001, Health and Safety Code.

(b) The department shall establish a procedure by which a

peace officer, an animal control officer employed by a county or

municipality, or an employee of a law enforcement agency 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. 61.04. EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION FOR CERTAIN ANIMAL

CRUELTY 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 after pleading guilty for an offense under Section

42.091, 42.092, 42.10, or 42.107, Penal Code.

Art. 61.05. 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. 61.06. 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. (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 61.06, 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 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, 2025.