Police
Oversight Bill List
Compiled March 3, 2001
The ACLU, the Sunshine Project and your webmaster have been
working to promote positive legislation at the state Legislature this session.
Besides ACLU’s own police accountability proposals (View ACLU's
Legislative agenda at their web site and support it any way you can), some
legislators have filed bills effecting police oversight that ACLU likes a lot,
while others have filed bills we oppose. You can look up more about any bill on
the Legislature's web site. A lot
of bills will be filed in the final week, but thus far here’s a sample:
Bills We Oppose:
SB 638 (Barrientos) and HB 1726 (Kitchen) These bills were filed by Austin's state senator and our newest rookie Democratic state representative. Not an auspicious start for Ms. Kitchen, in this writer's view. These bills require suspects charged with certain sex-related crimes to have a DNA sample sent to a permanent statewide database UPON ARREST, as opposed to upon conviction like HB 588 below. The filed version includes no expunction provisions for suspects who are cleared.
SB 120 (Wentworth) HB 1654 (Talton) The mirror image of HB 511 above, these bill allow a judge to seal search warrant affidavits under certain circumstances. Presently the public nature of search warrant affidavits is expressly codified, upheld by Texas courts.
HB 1113 (Goolsby) Allows officers to donate paid leave or compensatory time to the union PAC. Uses taxpayers money to fill PAC coffers that go to lobby for less oversight and pay hikes.
HB 175 (Goolsby) HB 346 (Keel) SB 215 (Bernsen) HB 2022 (Hinojosa)Increase penalties for evading arrest in a vehicle. ACLU doesn’t inherently impose punishment enhancement, but thinks a felony isn’t justified for evading if there’s no underlying arrest.
The ‘Tulia Bills’ HB 2350, HB 2351, and HB 2352 (Hinojosa): These bills are designed to address specific grievances resulting from the Tulia, Texas drug stings in 2000. HB 2350 makes records about police misconduct at the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education public if the officer “resigned or was terminated due to substantiated incidents of excessive force or violations of the law other than traffic offenses.” HB 2351 requires corroborating evidence to substantiate charges by an undercover law enforcement officer. HB 2352 requires judges to admit evidence as relevant that “tends to prove that the accused is innocent of the offense for which he is charged.”
HB 2257 (Garcia/Thompson) Requires officers to provide a "pre-miranda" warning to people stopped for traffic or other minor infractions. The warning specifies that citizens are not required to agree to searches.
HB 173 (Lewis) Requires audio and video recordings of interrogations. (Present law requires “electronic” recording.
HB 183 (Maxey) Requires the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education to adopt a mandatory ethics code, violation of which would cause officers to lose their license.
HB 363 (Gallego), HB 621 (Capelo) and SB 112 (Moncrief) Prohibit an officer from arresting anyone for an offense which would carry only a fine, not jail time, as a punishment. (This bill responds to a situation highlighted by ACLU litigation currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
HB 511 (Keel) Makes arrest warrants affidavits open to the same extent under law as search warrant affidavits.
HB 512 (Keel) Sets a maximum amount of time someone can be held in jail without bail for both misdemeanors and felonies (48 hours and 72 hours respectively). After that time bail would automatically be set at $5,000 for misdemeanors and $10,000 for felonies.
HB 588 (Garcia) The final version out of the House committee is the best of numerous DNA database bills that only includes convicted sex offenders with provisions for expunction if someone’s conviction is reversed on appeal.
HB 712 (Wilson) Creating a civilian review board in Houston.
HB 855 (Dutton) Makes grand jury proceedings public after the jury’s term has expired.
HB 866 (Dutton) Opens police records to the same extent they were open under the Public Information Act before litigation and legislative revisions considerably narrowed public access.
HB 1501 (Hupp) Requires police officers executing a search warrant to restore a residence as near as possible to the condition before the search.
HB 2120 (Dukes) Closes a loophole in state civil service notification requirements that may let a police officer fired for committing on-the-job sexual assault back onto the Austin police force.