HBA-TBM C.S.H.B. 1031 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 1031
By: West, George "Buddy"
Public Safety
4/6/2001
Committee Report (Substituted)


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current Texas law requires information magnetically encoded by the
Department of Public Safety onto an identification card to only be accessed
or used for law enforcement or governmental purposes.  That information
could be a valuable tool for merchants of products with age restrictions.
C.S.H.B. 1031 modifies penalties for unauthorized use of electronically
encoded information on identification cards and authorizes merchants to
access the information to determine if customers are underage.   

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. 1031 amends the Transportation Code to modify penalties for the
unauthorized use of the electronically readable information (information)
on a driver's license, commercial driver's license, or personal
identification certificate (license).  The bill provides that a person
commits a Class A misdemeanor if the person knowingly accesses or uses the
information.  The bill provides that it is an affirmative defense to
prosecution that the person accessing or using the information is: 
 
 _an officer or employee of the Department of Public Safety who accesses or
uses the information for official purposes; 
 
 _a merchant who accesses or uses the information to electronically
transcribe the purchaser's license identification number or the purchaser's
date of birth onto a check in the course of a commercial transaction, to
compute a purchaser's age in the course of selling an age-restricted
product, or for check verification purposes;  
 
 _a peace officer acting in an official capacity; or 

 _a licensed deputy of the Parks and Wildlife Department issuing a license,
stamp, tag, permit, or other similar item through the use of a
point-of-sale system.     

The bill provides that a person commits a state jail felony if the person
knowingly compiles or maintains a database of the information.   

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.  

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

C.S.H.B. 1031 differs from the original to include among the affirmative
defenses a merchant who accesses or uses the information for check
verification purposes and a licensed deputy of the Parks and Wildlife
Department who is issuing a sport license or other similar item through the
use of a point-of-sale system. The substitute defines "check verification"
and modifies the definition of "merchant".