HBA-DMD, PDH H.B. 279 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 279 By: Wise Public Safety 4/8/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, local law enforcement authorities are required to publish information related to the release of a sex offender from prison in the newspaper of greatest circulation in the county in which the person intends to reside. However, the statute does not specify the section of the newspaper in which this notice must be published. This allows for these notifications to be published in certain sections which may escape the reader's attention. H.B. 279 requires local law enforcement authorities to request that the initial and duplicate newspaper notices involving registered sex offenders who intend to reside in a municipality or county or who are moving to another municipality or county in this state be displayed where the greatest number of readers will see and read the notice. 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 62.03, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding Subsection (h), as follows: (h) Requires the local law enforcement authority to request that the initial and duplicate newspaper notices described in Subsection (e) (which involve registered sex offenders who intend to reside in a municipality or county) be displayed where the greatest number of readers will see and read the notice. SECTION 2. Amends Article 62.04, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding Subsection (j), as follows: (j) Requires the local law enforcement authority to request that the initial and duplicate newspaper notices described in Subsection (f) (which involve registered sex offenders moving to another municipality or county in this state) be displayed where the greatest number of readers will see and read the notice. SECTION 3. Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.