HBA-NLM H.B. 2200 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2200 By: Swinford County Affairs 3/14/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, the Department of Public Safety (department) is authorized to disseminate criminal history record information to certain criminal justice agencies for specific purposes. However, counties do not possess the authority to do criminal background checks of all prospective employees. There is concern that the inability of a county to obtain criminal history record information on prospective employees may create a security risk to the citizens of the county. The purpose of this bill is to allow a county to obtain criminal history information that relates to a person who is seeking employment with the county. H.B. 2200 entitles a county to obtain criminal history record information from the department relating to prospective county employees unless the information is being obtained for other specified reasons by the county. 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 Subchapter F, Chapter 411, Government Code, by adding Section 411.1295, as follows: Sec. 411.1295. ACCESS TO CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD INFORMATION: EMPLOYMENT BY COUNTY. Entitles a county to obtain criminal history record information from the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas, relating to an applicant for county employment, except as otherwise provided by this section. Provides that a county is not entitled to obtain information about a person under this section if any criminal history record information is obtained by the county under another section of this subchapter. SECTION 2. Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.