HBA-JEK, MSH H.B. 588 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 588 By: Garcia Corrections 7/25/2001 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Recent advances in DNA technology can help ensure that justice is better served by helping to identify persons who commit crimes as well as exonerate innocent persons accused of a crime. Law prior to the 77th Legislature required an adult inmate of the institutional division or another penal institution of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to submit one or more blood samples or other specimens to TDCJ for the creation of a DNA record only if the inmate was ordered by a court to give the sample or was serving a sentence for certain violent crimes. House Bill 588 broadens the type and scope of offenses for which a blood sample must be surrendered by requiring any adult inmate convicted of a felony to provide one or more blood samples or other specimens for the creation of a DNA record. 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 588 amends the Government Code to require all inmates serving sentences for a felony in the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to provide one or more blood samples for the purpose of creating a DNA record. If the executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (executive director) determines that sufficient funds have not been appropriated to obtain samples from each inmate, the bill requires the executive director to give priority to obtain samples from inmates ordered by a court to give a sample and inmates convicted of murder, burglary, or sexual assault. The bill provides that a person who knowingly discloses inmate DNA information commits a state jail felony rather than a misdemeanor. EFFECTIVE DATE This Act takes effect on the date the director of the Department of Public Safety certifies that sufficient funds have been received to pay all costs associated with expanding the list of offenses for which DNA samples are taken.