HBA-DMD, MAJ H.B. 139 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 139 By: McClendon Public Safety 4/11/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, there is no way for the public to easily and inexpensively access information about registered sex offenders in Texas. H.B. 139 requires the Texas Department of Public Safety to maintain a toll-free telephone number that a person may call to obtain certain sex offender registration information. 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 411.135(b), Government Code, as added by Chapter 747, Acts of the4/11/1999 Texas Department of Public Safety (department) to maintain a toll-free telephone number that a person may call to obtain certain sex offender registration information described by Subsection (a)(1). Subsection (a)(1) states that any person is entitled to obtain from the department any information described as public information under Section 5, Article 6252-13c.1, V.T.C.S., (Redesignated as Code of Criminal Procedure, arts. 62.01 to 62.12 (specifically Art. 62.02, Registration and Art. 62.08, Central Database; Public Information) by Acts 1997, 75th Legislature, ch. 668, Section 1). SECTION 2. Requires the department to implement the toll-free number described by Section 411.135(b), Government Code, no later than October 1, 1999. SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.