HBA-MSH, MSH H.B. 3148 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3148 By: Allen Public Safety 3/18/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, inmates of a penal institution and juveniles committed to the Texas Youth Commission who are convicted of certain offenses are required to submit a blood sample or other specimen for the purposes of creating a DNA record, if so ordered by the court. Sex offenders are also subject to a series of registration requirements which include publishing notification of their release or change of address in a newspaper. In addition, Texas has agreements with other states that have sex offender registration programs in order to register sex offenders convicted in other states who choose to reside in Texas. Current law does not extend this provision to cover those persons required to register under federal or military law. House Bill 3148 expands DNA collection to those sex offenders subject to release and extends the sex offender registration program to those required to register under federal of military law. 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 3148 amends the Criminal Procedure, Family, Government, and Human Resources codes to require certain sex offenders to submit specimens for the creation of a DNA record. The bill requires a judge granting community supervision to a defendant required to register as a sex offender (sex offender) to require the defendant to submit a blood sample or other specimen (specimen) to the Department of Public Safety (DPS) for the purpose of creating a DNA record of the defendant (Art. 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure). If a jury or court makes a disposition in which a child is placed on probation for an offense for which the child is required to register as a sex offender, the bill provides that the court shall require the child to submit a specimen for the creation of a DNA record (Sec. 54.0405, Family Code). The bill requires as a condition of parole or mandatory supervision that an inmate to be released submit a specimen for the purpose of creating a DNA record (Sec. 508.186, Government Code). Before releasing a child adjudicated for a sexual offense requiring sex offender registration, the bill requires the Texas Youth Commission to require the child to submit a body tissue specimen for a DNA record. (Sec. 61.0813, Human Resources Code). The bill applies statutes relating to the registration of sex offenders to those persons required to register as a sex offender under federal law or the Uniform Code of Military Justice (Art. 62.021, Code of Criminal Procedure). The bill provides that for the purposes of existing law governing the time periods during which a person subject to registration as a sex offender for two or more convictions or deferred adjudications of a sexual offense is required to verify registration information with a local law enforcement authority, a person receives multiple convictions or orders of deferred adjudication regardless of whether the judgments or orders are entered on different dates or the offenses for which the person was convicted or placed on deferred adjudication arose out of different criminal transactions (Art. 62.06, Code of Criminal Procedure). The bill provides that DPS is responsible for determining for the purposes of the sex offender registration program whether an offense under the laws of another state, federal law, or the Uniform Code of Military Justice contains elements that are substantially similar to the elements of an offense under the law of this state (Art. 62.0101, Code of Criminal Procedure). The bill requires a local law enforcement authority that is required to publish notice of a sex offender's release or change of address to collect the cost of publication from the sex offender for obtaining publication (Arts. 62.03 and 62.04, Code of Criminal Procedure). The registration duties imposed on a sex offender are terminated only when the conviction is set aside on appeal or the conviction is pardoned, and not while the pardon or appeal is pending (Art. 62.11, Code of Criminal Procedure). EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.