HBA-ATS C.S.H.B. 1432 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1432
By: Grusendorf
Public Safety
3/26/1999
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Texas law requires adult and juvenile sex offenders to register their names
and addresses with the Department of Public Safety (department) and local
police departments.  Any person is entitled to obtain the criminal history
records of sex offenders from the department.  This information may be
obtained by a written or electronic request.  The department is authorized
to charge a fee for each request.  Currently, the department charges more
for written inquiries than for inquiries submitted electronically through
its website.  Requests submitted through the website cost less because
electronic submissions require less time and labor to handle than written
requests. 

C.S.H.B. 1432 prohibits the Department of Public Safety from charging for
processing an electronic inquiry for sex offender registration information
if requested through the Internet.  This bill also deletes public
information from the type of information for which the department is
authorized to charge a fee for processing an inquiry from a person who is
not primarily a criminal justice agency. 

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 411.001, Government Code, by adding Subdivision
(4), to define "Internet" as the largest nonproprietary nonprofit
cooperative public computer network. 

SECTION 2.  Amends Section 411.088, Government Code, as follows:

(a) Deletes public information from the type of information for which the
Department of Public Safety (department) is authorized to charge a fee for
processing an inquiry from a person who is not primarily a criminal justice
agency.  Provides an exception in Subsection (b).  Makes conforming
changes. 

(b)  Prohibits the department from charging for processing an electronic
inquiry for information described as public under Article 62.08 (Central
Database; Public Information), Code of Criminal Procedure, made through the
use of the Internet.   

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.
            Effective date: upon passage.



COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 1432 modifies the original bill in SECTION 2 by amending the
proposed addition of Subsection (b) to Section 411.088 (Fees), Government
Code, to strike "actual costs" from the prohibition against charging a
person for processing an electronic inquiry for information described as
public, made through the use of the Internet.  Under the original bill, the
Department of Public Safety was prohibited from charging actual costs for
processing the electronic inquiry.