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.