HBA-DMD C.S.H.B. 153 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 153 By: Nixon, Joe Criminal Jurisprudence 3/26/1999 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, Texas law does not authorize a court to expunge the arrest records of a person whose name was falsely presented by another person as their own at the time of that person's arrest. A person whose name was given by a defendant is required to attend all court hearings to prove that they are not the person in question. C.S.H.B. 153 requires the Department of Public Safety (department) to create a record of each individual who signs a declaration that the individual's identity has been used by another person without the individual's consent, and files that declaration with the department. This bill requires the department, upon receiving the declaration, to create a record of the person's identity in a password-protected criminal history record information system maintained by the department. 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 Subchapter D, Chapter 411, Government Code, by adding Section 411.0421, as follows: Sec. 411.0421. INFORMATION REGARDING FRAUDULENT USE OF IDENTIFICATION. (a) Requires the Department of Public Safety (department) to create a record of each individual who, in conjunction with the district attorney in the county in which the individual resides and the sheriff of that county or, if the individual is not a resident of a county in this state, the attorney and sheriff in a county that the individual frequents, signs a declaration that the individual's identity has been used by another person to frustrate proper law enforcement without the individual's consent, and files that declaration with the department. (b) Specifies the information that must be included in a declaration filed under this section. (c) Requires the department, upon receiving the declaration, to create a record of the person's identity in a password-protected criminal history record information system maintained by the department under Subchapter F (Criminal History Record Information), Government Code. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 60, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding Article 60.19, as follows: Art. 60.19. INFORMATION RELATED TO MISUSED IDENTITY. Requires the department, upon receiving the declaration under Section 411.0421, Government Code, or upon receiving information similar to that contained in a declaration, to separate information maintained in the computerized criminal history system regarding an individual whose identity has been misused from information maintained in that system regarding the person who misused the identity. SECTION 3.Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 4.Emergency clause. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 153 differs from the original bill in SECTION 1 by amending Chapter 411, Government Code, rather than Article 55.01, Code of Criminal Procedure. In SECTION 2 this substitute amends Chapter 60, Code of Criminal Procedure, rather than Section 1, Article 55.02, Code of Criminal Procedure. This substitute deletes SECTION 3 from the original bill, which amends Section 5, Article 55.02, Code of Criminal Procedure. This substitute also redesignates the effective date and emergency clause in SECTIONS 4 and 5 of the original bill as SECTIONS 3 and 4 of the substitute and deletes the language providing that this bill is effective upon passage. In SECTION 1 of the substitute, the Department of Pubic Safety (department) is required to create a record of each individual who signs and files with the department a declaration that the person's identity has been used by another person without the individual's consent. SECTION 1 of the original bill entitles a person to have any information expunged that is on the person's criminal records provided that the information was obtained falsely because another person used their identity. In SECTION 2 of the substitute, the department is required to separate information maintained in the computerized criminal history system regarding an individual whose identity has been misused. SECTION 2 of the original bill relates to the authorization for persons filing an ex parte petition to have their records expunged provided that their records are inaccurate because any arrested persons falsely identified themselves as the petitioner. SECTION 3 of the original bill requires a person, agency, or entity who receives an order for expunction, to obliterate the records named in the order.