HBA-CBW H.B. 1380 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1380
By: Coleman
State Affairs
2/21/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Privacy concerns are an issue for crime victims throughout the criminal
justice process. Fear of harassment or retaliation from offenders, who may
learn the victim's name and residential location through public records or
court testimony, deters victims from seeking justice. Many victims refuse
to report crimes to avoid intrusion into their lives by the media. Crime
victims have the right to privacy throughout the criminal justice process.
However, unless the crime is a sexual assault or is committed against a
minor or an elderly person, the victim's name is part of public record.
House Bill 1380 excepts information regarding victims of certain offenses,
including criminal homicide, kidnapping and unlawful restraint, sexual
offenses, assaultive offenses, and stalking, from information that is
available to the public for a specified period of time.   

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. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1380 amends the Government Code to provide that information held
by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor is excepted from certain
requirements relating to the availability of  public information if the
information reveals or tends to reveal the identity of a victim of certain
offenses, including criminal homicide, kidnapping and  unlawful restraint,
sexual offenses, assaultive offenses, or stalking.  The bill provides that
such information is excepted from required disclosure only until the
earlier of the date by which each person who committed the offense has been
apprehended and has been convicted, acquitted of, or granted deferred
adjudication for the offense, or the second anniversary of the date the
offense was committed.  The changes in law made by the  Act apply without
regard to the date on which an offense was committed or the date on which
information related to the offense was requested. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001.