HBA-JEK H.B. 2784 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2784
By: Carter
Public Safety
6/14/2001
Enrolled



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Prior to the 77th Legislature, the Department of Public Safety (DPS) was
required to maintain statistics regarding responses by law enforcement
agencies to incidents in which a person licensed to carry a concealed
handgun was convicted of an offense related to the unlawful carrying of a
concealed handgun. Including statistics on responses to certain serious
offenses committed by persons licensed to carry concealed handguns would
provide important information on the influence of concealed handguns on the
commission of certain serious crimes.  House Bill 2784 authorizes DPS to
maintain statistics related to responses by law enforcement agencies on its
website only in incidents in which persons licensed to carry concealed
handguns are convicted of certain serious offenses. 

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

House Bill 2784 amends the Government Code to authorize the Department of
Public Safety (DPS) to maintain statistics on its website related to
responses by law enforcement agencies to incidents in which a person
licensed to carry a concealed handgun is convicted of robbery, burglary, an
offense against a person, or an offense involving the unlawful use or
possession of a weapon.  The bill requires these statistics to be drawn and
reported annually from the DPS Computerized Criminal History file on
persons 21 years of age and older, and requires the statistics to be
compared in numerical and graphical format to all like offenses committed
in the state for the reporting period as a percentage of the total of such
reported offenses. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.