HBA-RBT H.B. 1108 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1108 By: Williams Criminal Jurisprudence 2/19/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, search warrant affidavits are considered public information and are therefore open to inspection by the public. H.B. 1108 authorizes an attorney representing the state to request, and a judge to order, the sealing of the affidavits used to obtain a search warrant in certain situations. The circumstances in which an affidavit can be sealed are if the safety of an informant would be jeopardized, if a continuing investigation would be adversely affected, or if the affidavit contains information obtained from a court-ordered wiretap which has not expired. This bill provides that the affidavit can be sealed for 31 days and provides for no more than two 30-day extensions. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Article 18.01(b), Code of Criminal Procedure, to provide an exception to search warrant affidavits being public information. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 18, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding Article 18.011, as follows: Art. 18.011. SEALING OF AFFIDAVIT. (a) Authorizes an attorney representing the state in the prosecution of felonies to request a district judge or the judge of an appellate court to seal an affidavit presented under Article 18.01(b). Authorizes the judge to order the affidavit sealed if the attorney establishes a compelling state interest in that the public disclosure of the affidavit would jeopardize the safety of a confidential informant, adversely affect a continuing investigation, or the affidavit contains information obtained from a court-ordered wiretap that has not expired at the time the attorney requests the sealing of the affidavit. (b) Provides that an order sealing an affidavit issued under this section expires 31 days after the search warrant was executed. Authorizes an attorney representing the state to request, and the judge to grant, two additional 30-day extensions of the original order sealing the affidavit. Each extension will require that the judge make a new finding of compelling state interest. (c) Provides that the affidavit must be unsealed when the order and any extensions have expired. (d) Prohibits an order issued under this section from prohibiting the disclosure of information relating to the contents of a search warrant, the return of a search warrant, or the inventory of property taken pursuant to a search warrant. Prohibits an order from affecting the right of a defendant to discover the contents of an affidavit. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1999. Makes application of this Act prospective. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.