HBA-DMD S.B. 1650 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 1650 By: Jackson Corrections 5/11/1999 Engrossed BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current Texas law, a person subject to sex offender registration is required to register with certain authorities upon being released from a penal institution. S.B. 1650 requires the risk assessment review committee (committee) established by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to determine the person's level of risk to the community using the sex offender screening tool developed by the committee, to assign the person a numeric risk level of one or two, and to immediately send a written notice of the risk level to the penal institution from which the person is due to be released, before a person who will be subject to registration is due to be released from the penal institution. This bill requires an official of the penal institution to send the person's numeric risk level, in addition to the person's completed registration form, to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and to other specified agencies, seven days before a person who will be subject to registration is due to be released from a penal institution, or upon receiving notice by a penal institution that a person who will be subject to registration is due to be released in less than seven days. This bill also requires the committee to develop or select from among existing tools a sex offender screening tool to be used in determining the level of risk of a person subject to registration. It authorizes the committee to assign to a person a numeric risk level of three only upon receiving notice that the person intends to move to a new residence in this state and only if certain conditions are met. S.B. 1650 requires DPS, upon receiving notice that a person subject to registration is due to be released from a penal institution, has been placed on community supervision or juvenile probation, or intends to move to a new residence in this state, to verify the person's numeric risk level. In addition, this bill requires DPS, if the person is assigned a numeric risk level one, no later than seven days after the person is released or 10 days after the person moves, to provide written notice mailed or delivered to at least each residential address within a one-mile radius, in an area that has not been subdivided, or a three-block area, in an area that has been subdivided, of the place where the person intends to reside. 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 Articles 62.03(a), (b), (c), (e), and (f), Code of Criminal Procedure, as follows: (a) Requires the risk assessment review committee (committee) established under Article 62.035, Code of Criminal Procedure, before a person who will be subject to registration under this chapter is due to be released from a penal institution, to determine the person's level of risk to the community using the sex offender screening tool developed or selected under that article, assign the person a numeric risk level of one or two, and immediately send a written notice of the risk level to the penal institution from which the person is due to be released. Sets forth requirements for an official of the penal institution, upon receiving notice under this subsection. The existing text sets forth requirements for an official of the penal institution, before a person who will be subject to registration under this chapter is due to be released from a penal institution. (b) Requires an official of the penal institution to send the person's numeric risk level, in addition to the person's completed registration form, to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and to other specified agencies, seven days before a person who will be subject to registration under this chapter is due to be released from a penal institution, or upon receiving notice by a penal institution that a person who will be subject to registration under this chapter is due to be released in less than seven days. (c) Requires the court that orders deferred adjudication, probation or community supervision, or imposes a fine for a person who is subject to registration under this chapter, to make a determination of the person's numeric risk level using the sex offender screening tool developed or selected under Article 62.035, to assign the person a numeric risk level of one or two, and to ensure that the prerelease notification and registration requirements specified in this article are conducted on the day of entering the order or sentencing. Makes conforming changes. (e) Makes conforming changes. (f) Includes the person's numeric risk level assigned under this chapter and the guidelines used to determine a person's risk level generally, among other information that the local law enforcement authority is required to include in the notice by publication in a newspaper. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by Chapter 668, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997, by adding Article 62.035, as follows: Art. 62.035. RISK ASSESSMENT REVIEW COMMITTEE; SEX OFFENDER SCREENING TOOL. (a) Requires the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to establish a risk assessment review committee (committee) composed of at least five members, each of whom is a state employee whose service on the committee is in addition to the employee's regular duties. Sets forth the composition of the committee. (b) Requires the committee to develop or select from among existing tools a sex offender screening tool to be used in determining the level of risk of a person subject to registration under this chapter. Provides that the sex offender screening tool must use an objective point system which assigns a person a designated number of points for each of various factors, such as the nature of the offense for which the person is subject to registration, the age of the victim, and the number of occasions on which the person has been convicted of or adjudicated for an offense for which a person is subject to registration under this chapter. Requires the committee, when developing or selecting the sex offender screening tool, to use or select a screening tool that may be adapted to use certain general guidelines. (c) Authorizes the committee to assign to a person a numeric risk level of three only upon receiving notice under Article 62.04, Code of Criminal Procedure, that the person intends to move to a new residence in this state and only if certain conditions are met. SECTION 3. Amends Articles 62.04(d), (f), and (g), Code of Criminal Procedure, as follows: (d) Requires the local law enforcement authority, no later than the third day after receiving information under Subsection (a) or (b), whichever is earlier, to forward this information to DPS and, if the person meets the criteria described by Article 62.035(c), Code of Criminal Procedure, to be reassigned a numeric risk level of three, to the committee established under that article. Requires the committee, upon receiving information under this subsection, to determine whether the person meets the criteria to be reassigned a numeric risk level of three, assign to the person a numeric risk level of three, if the person meets that criteria, and immediately send a written notice of the person's risk level to DPS and to the local law enforcement authority in the municipality or county where the person intends to reside. (f) Requires the authority, if the person is not assigned a numeric risk level three, in addition to the condition that the victim is a child younger than 17 years of age, the basis on which the person is subject to registration is not an adjudication of delinquent conduct and is not a conviction or a deferred adjudication for an offense under Section 25.02 (Prohibited Sexual Conduct), Penal Code, to immediately publish notice in English and Spanish in the newspaper of greatest paid circulation in the county in which the person subject to registration intends to reside or, if there is no newspaper of paid circulation in that county, in the newspaper of greatest general circulation in the county. Makes conforming changes. (g) Includes the person's numeric risk level assigned under this chapter and the guidelines used to determine a person's risk level generally, among other information that the local law enforcement authority is required to include in the notice by publication in a newspaper. SECTION 4. Amends Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by Chapter 668, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997, by adding Article 62.045, as follows: Art. 62.045. ADDITIONAL PUBLIC NOTICE FOR CERTAIN OFFENDERS. (a) Requires DPS, upon receiving notice under this chapter that a person subject to registration is due to be released from a penal institution, has been placed on community supervision or juvenile probation, or intends to move to a new residence in this state, to verify the person's numeric risk level assigned under this chapter. Requires DPS, if the person is assigned a numeric risk level one, no later than seven days after the person is released or 10 days after the person moves, to provide written notice mailed or delivered to at least each residential address within a one-mile radius, in an area that has not been subdivided, or a three-block area, in an area that has been subdivided, of the place where the person intends to reside. (b) Requires DPS to include in the notice any information that is public information under this chapter. Prohibits DPS from including any information that is not public information under this chapter. (c) Requires DPS to establish procedures for a person with respect to whom notice is provided under Subsection (a), other than a person subject to registration on the basis of an adjudication of delinquent conduct, to pay to DPS all costs incurred by DPS in providing the notice. Requires the person to pay those costs in accordance with the procedures established under this subsection. (d) Authorizes the local law enforcement authority, upon receiving notice under this chapter that a person subject to registration under this chapter is required to register or verify registration with a local law enforcement authority and has been assigned a numeric risk level of one, to provide notice to the public in any manner determined appropriate by the local law enforcement authority, including holding a neighborhood meeting, posting notices in the area where the person intends to reside, distributing printed notices to area residents, or establishing a specialized local website. Authorizes the local law enforcement authority to include in the notice any information that is public information under this chapter. SECTION 5. Requires the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to establish the committee, as required by Article 62.035, Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by this Act, no later than September 1, 1999. Requires the committee to develop or select the sex offender screening tool, as required by Article 62.035, no later than December 1, 1999, and to make the tool available to all judges hearing criminal cases not later than December 15, 1999. Provides that each person released from a penal institution, as defined by Article 62.01 (Definitions), Code of Criminal Procedure, or placed on community supervision or juvenile probation on or after January 1, 2000, and for whom registration is required under Chapter 62 (Sex Offender Registration Program), Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by Chapter 668, Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997, must be assigned a numeric risk level as required by Chapter 62. SECTION 6. (a) Requires DPS to establish the procedures required by Article 62.045, Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by this Act, no later than January 1, 2000. (b) Makes application of Article 62.045, Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by this Act, prospective on January 1, 2000. SECTION 7. Provides that this Act takes effect only if a specific appropriation for the implementation of this Act is provided in H.B. No. 1, Acts of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999. Provides that if no specific appropriation is provided in H.B. No. 1, this Act has no effect. SECTION 8.Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.