Capitol Research Services of Texas > Reports
Sex Offender Registration Program (1999 Amendment)
- Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure
- 1999 Amendment: S.B. 1124
- Report: 125 pages
- Fee: $295
Abstract
This report
reviews development of the sex offender registration program now
contained in Chapter 62, Code of Criminal Procedure. It focuses
in particular on the legislative histories of S.B. 1224 (1999).
The House committee bill analysis summarized S.B. 1224 as follows:
Background
A sexually violent predator may be defined as a person who has
been convicted of or charged with a sexually violent offense
and who suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder
that makes the person likely to engage in a predatory act of
sexual violence if the person is not confined in a secure correctional
facility. The dangers that criminally violent sex offenders
may pose upon release from prison is a concern to many communities.
Based on the probability of future harmful conduct, some states
have responded by enacting legislation that allows the use of
a civil commitment process to continue the confinement of sexually
violent criminal offenders who are found to have a mental abnormality
that causes them to pose a danger to others, even if they are
not found to have a mental illness. Although the use of the
civil commitment of dangerous sex offenders who do not have
a mental illness is highly controversial because civil commitment
is typically intended for people with mental illnesses, not
for criminals labeled as likely to reoffend, the United States
Supreme Court has upheld its constitutionality. See Kansas v.
Hendricks, 117 S.Ct. 2072 (1997).
Current Texas law does not provide for the civil commitment
of dangerous sex offenders who do not have a mental illness
to psychiatric hospitals following completion of their prison
sentences. In this session, several bills have been introduced
to establish a process for the civil commitment of sex offenders.
If one or more of those bills become law, S.B. 1224 creates
three new articles in the Code of Criminal Procedure that provide
for additional regulation of persons subject to registration
as sex offenders who are civilly committed.
Article 62.0451 requires the Department of Public Safety (department),
when it receives notice that a person subject to registration
who is civilly committed as a sexually violent predator is due
to be released from a penal institution or intends to move to
a new residence in this state, to provide written notice within
a certain period to at least each residential address within
a one mile radius or a three block area, as applicable, of the
place where the person intends to reside. The department’s
duty to provide notice in regard to a particular person ends
on the date on which a court releases the person from all requirements
of the civil commitment process. Article 62.061 requires a person
who is subject to registration and is civilly committed as a
sexually violent predator to report to the authority with whom
the person is required to register not less than once in each
30 day period following the date the person first registered
to verify the information in the registration form maintained
by the authority for that person. Article 62.101 creates an
offense punishable as a felony of the second degree for a person
who fails to comply with any requirement of Chapter 62 (Sex
Offender Registration Program), Code of Criminal Procedure,
after commitment as a sexually violent predator but before the
person is released from all requirements of the civil commitment
process.
In addition, this bill creates a new article in the Code of
Criminal Procedure that applies to a person who is required
to register as a sex offender in another state with which the
department has entered into a reciprocal registration agreement
and who is not otherwise required to register under Chapter
62. Such a person is required to comply with the annual verification
requirements of Article 62.06 (Law Enforcement Verification
of Registration Information), Code of Criminal Procedure. Additionally,
this bill requires a person to report to the local law enforcement
authority to which the person must register within seven days
of a change in address the person’s new address and provide
the authority with proof of identity and residence. Likewise,
a person who is required to register and who is unsupervised
is required to report to the authority any change in the person’s
health or job status within seven days of a change..
Exhibits
1991
1. Act of June 15, 1991, 72nd Leg., R.S., ch. 572, 1991 Tex. Gen.
Laws, 229
1993 – H.B. 181
2 . Act of June 18, 1993, 73rd Leg., R.S., ch. 866, 1993 Tex.
Gen. Laws, 3420
1995 – S.B. 959
3 . Act of May 11, 1995, 74th Leg., R.S., ch. 76, 1995 Tex. Gen.
Laws, 458
1995 – S.B. 267
4 . Act of May 29, 1995, 74th Leg., R.S., ch. 258, 1995 Tex. Gen.
Laws, 2197.
1995 – H.B. 1379
5 . Act of June 15, 1995, 74th Leg., R.S., ch. 676, 1995 Tex.
Gen. Laws, 3649
6 . VERNON’S ANN. REV. CIV. STAT. Art. 6252–13c.1
(Vernon’s Supp. 1995)
1995-1996
7 . HOUSE RESEARCH ORGANIZATION, Debate continues on Texas’
sex offender notification law, Focus Report Number 74-23 (July
24, 1996)
1997 – S.B. 875
8 . Act of June 13, 1997, 75th Leg., R.S., ch. 668, 1997 Tex.
Gen. Laws, 2253
1997 – S.B. 381
9 . Act of June 13, 1997, 75th Leg., R.S., ch. 667, 1997 Tex.
Gen. Laws, 2250
1997 – H.B. 2918
10 . Act of June 20, 1997, 75th Leg., R.S., ch. 1430, 1997 Tex.
Gen. Laws, 5493
1997-1998
11 . SENATE INTERIM COMMITTEE ON SEX OFFENDERS, Report to the
76th Legislature (September 11, 1998)
1999 – S.B. 1224
12.
Tex. S.B. 1224, 76th Leg., R.S., Master Bill History Report (1999)
13. Tex. S.B. 1224, As Introduced, 76th Leg., R.S. (1999)
14. Tex. S.B. 1224, Senate Committee Report, 76th Tex. Leg., R.S.
(1999)
15. Tex. S.B. 1224, House Committee Report, 76th Leg., R.S. (1999)
16. Capitol Research Services, Hearings on S.B. 1224 Before the
Senate Committee on Criminal Justice, 76th Leg. R.S. (April 28,
1999)
17. Capitol Research Services, Debate on S.B. 1224 On the Floor
of the Senate (Second and Third Readings), 76th Leg. R.S. (May
6, 1999)
18. Capitol Research Services, Debate on S.B. 1224 On the Floor
of the House (Second Reading), 76th Leg. R.S. (May 26, 1999)
19. S.J. of Tex., 70th Leg., R.S. 1520-1523 (1999)
20. H.J. of Tex., 76th Leg., R.S. 3322, 3337 (1999)
21. Act of June 18, 76th Leg., R.S., ch. 444, 1999 Tex. Gen. Laws,
2824
22. Act of June 18, 76th Leg., R.S., ch. 444, 1999 Tex. Gen. Laws,
2824
1999 – S.B. 399
23 . Act of June 20, 1997, 75th Leg., R.S., ch. 1193, 1997 Tex.
Gen. Laws, 5493
1999 – H.B. 1939
24 . Act of June 19, 1999, 76th Leg., R.S., ch. 1401, 1999 Tex.
Gen. Laws, 4727
1999 – H.B. 2145
25 . Act of June 19, 1999, 76th Leg., R.S., ch. 1414, 1999 Tex.
Gen. Laws, 4831
1999 – S.B. 1650
26 . Act of June 19, 1999, 76th Leg., R.S., ch. 1557, 1999 Tex.
Gen. Laws, 5354
27 . Vernon’s Ann. Code of Crim. Proc. Ch. 62 (Vernon Supp.
2001)
2001 – H.B. 121
28 . Tex. H.B. 121, Enrolled, 77th Leg., R.S., (2001) (Internet
Version)
2001 – H.B. 2987
29 . Tex. H.B. 2987, Enrolled, 77th Leg., R.S., (2001) (Internet
Version)
2001 – S.B. 654
30 . Tex. S.B. 654, Enrolled, 77th Leg., R.S., (2001) (Internet
Version)
2001 – S.B. 1206
31 . Tex. S.B. 1206, Enrolled, 77th Leg., R.S., (2001) (Internet
Version)
2001 – S.B. 1380
32 . Tex. S.B. 1380, Enrolled, 77th Leg., R.S., (2001) (Internet
Version)