HBA-SEB H.B. 1323 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1323
By: King, Phil
Juvenile Justice and Family Issues
2/18/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, when a court issues an order requiring juvenile records to be
sealed, the records need not be sent to the court within any specific time
frame.  The same is true of index references to the records that the court
orders to be deleted.  H.B. 1323 requires the sealed records and a
verification of the deletions of the index references to be sent to the
court before the 31st day after the court issues the order.  This bill also
imposes the same time limit on an agency or official for notifying the
court that the records cannot be sealed due to incorrect or insufficient
information in the order.   

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 Section 58.003, Family Code, by amending Subsection (g)
and adding Subsection (o), as follows: 

(g)  Requires all law enforcement, prosecuting attorney, clerk of court,
and juvenile court records ordered sealed to be sent to the court issuing
the order concerning the sealing of records of a juvenile case (order)
before the 31st day after the date the order is received. Requires all
records of a public or private agency or institution ordered sealed to be
sent to the court issuing the order within the same time frame.  Requires
all index references to the records ordered sealed to be deleted before the
31st day after the date the order is received and the verification of the
deletion to be sent before the 31st day after the date of the deletion to
the court issuing the order.  

(o)  Requires an agency or official named in the order to notify the court
issuing the order before the 31st day after the date the agency or official
receives the order if the agency or official cannot seal the records
because the order contains incorrect or insufficient information.  Requires
the court to notify the person who made the application or who is the
subject of the records named in the motion, or the attorney for that
person, before the 31st day after the date the court receives the notice
that the agency or official cannot seal the records because the order
contains incorrect or insufficient information. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.
            Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.