HBA-SEB S.B. 1578 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 1578
By: West
Juvenile Justice and Family Issues
4/28/1999
Committee Report (Amended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, gang-related criminal activity, along with organized crime,
takes place across the state. Associations of street gangs that move across
regions of the state frustrate efforts by law enforcement agencies to
suppress gang-related crimes.  A statewide, coordinated approach to track
migration trends of gangs and gang identification may aid law enforcement
officers in combating gang-related crimes.  S.B. 1578 requires the office
of the attorney general to establish an electronic gang resource system
which stores identifying information about gangs, such as gang colors or
clothing, criminal activities, migration trends, and recruitment
activities.  Access to the system is limited to law enforcement personnel.

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  Chapter  61, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding
Article 61.08, as follows: 

Art. 61.08.  GANG RESOURCE SYSTEM.  (a)  Requires the office of the
attorney general (OAG) to establish an electronic gang resource system to
provide law enforcement agencies with information about criminal street
gangs in the state.  Sets forth information required to be included in the
system.   

(b)  Requires law enforcement agencies to make a reasonable attempt to
provide gang information to OAG, upon request, in order to maintain an
updated, comprehensive gang resource system.   

(c)  Requires OAG to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in collecting
and maintaining the accuracy of the information in the resource system.   

(d)  Prohibits information relating to the identity of a specific offender
or alleged offender from being maintained in the system.   

(e)  Authorizes information in the gang resource system to be used in
investigating gangrelated crimes, but prohibits it from being included in
affidavits or subpoenas or used in connection with any other legal or
judicial proceedings.   

(f)  Requires access to the system to be limited to law enforcement
personnel.   

(g)  Requires information in the system to be accessible by municipality or
county and by gang name. 

(h)  Authorizes OAG to coordinate with the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice (TDCJ) to include groups in the system identified by the Security
Threat Group Management Office of TDCJ. 

SECTION 2.Emergency clause.
  Effective date: upon passage.
 
EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENTS

Committee Amendment #1

Amends SECTION 1, proposed Article 61.08(e), Code of Criminal Procedure, to
authorize information in the gang resource system to be included in
affidavits or subpoenas or used in connection with any other legal or
judicial proceedings only if the information from the system is
corroborated by information not provided or maintained in the system.