HBA-KMH H.B. 234 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 234
By: Keel
Criminal Jurisprudence
1/15/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law establishes a search warrant affidavit as a public record upon
execution of the warrant. Due to a lack of specificity regarding where the
records are to be made available, some counties have failed to make the
records available for review at all.  H.B. 234 clarifies the current law by
specifying that the records will be made available in the office of the
magistrate's clerk during regular business hours. 

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 Article 18.01(b), Code of Criminal Procedure, by
requiring the magistrate's clerk to make available to the public in the
clerk's office during regular business hours a copy of an affidavit made
for the purposes of securing a search warrant. 

SECTION 2.  Emergency clause.
                       Effective date: upon passage.