HBA-CBW C.S.H.B. 1380 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1380 By: Coleman State Affairs 4/6/2001 Committee Report (Substituted) 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. C.S.H.B. 1380 provides that information regarding living victims of certain offenses, including criminal homicide, kidnapping and unlawful restraint, sexual offenses, assaultive offenses, and stalking, is confidential. 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 C.S.H.B. 1380 amends the Government Code to provide that information held by a law enforcement agency or prosecutor is confidential if the information reveals or tends to reveal the identity of a living victim of certain offenses, including criminal homicide, kidnapping and unlawful restraint, sexual offenses, assaultive offenses, or stalking. The bill provides that such information remains confidential only until the earliest of the date the victim gives written consent to the disclosure of the information, 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 date the statute of limitations expires. A prosecutor or law enforcement agency does not violate the confidentiality requirements of this bill when disclosing the information in a public court document or in connection with a public court proceeding to another prosecutorial or law enforcement authority. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 1380 differs from the original bill by modifying the conditions under which information related to certain offenses no longer remains confidential. The substitute provides that information remains confidential until the date the victim gives written consent, the date by which each person who committed the offense has been convicted, acquitted, or granted deferred adjudication, or the date the statute of limitations expires, whichever is earliest. The original bill provided that information remains confidential until the date by which each person who committed the offenses has been convicted, acquitted, or granted deferred adjudication, or the second anniversary of the date the offense was committed, whichever is earlier. In addition, the substitute makes information confidential for living victims, not all victims as in the original. The substitute also makes the confidentiality requirements applicable to offenses committed on or after the effective date. Whereas, the original applies to all offenses, regardless of the date the offense was committed. The substitute also adds provisions authorizing a prosecutor or law enforcement agency to disclose the information in a court document or in connection with a court proceeding.