Relating to requiring a warrant to search certain location information purchased by a governmental entity from a data broker or electronic personal data tracker.

89(R) SB 1659 - Introduced version - Bill Text

89R14334 JCG-D

By: Hughes

S.B. No. 1659

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to requiring a warrant to search certain location

information purchased by a governmental entity from a data broker

or electronic personal data tracker.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Article 18.02(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is

amended to read as follows:

(a) A search warrant may be issued to search for and seize:

(1) property acquired by theft or in any other manner

which makes its acquisition a penal offense;

(2) property specially designed, made, or adapted for

or commonly used in the commission of an offense;

(3) arms and munitions kept or prepared for the

purposes of insurrection or riot;

(4) weapons prohibited by the Penal Code;

(5) gambling devices or equipment, altered gambling

equipment, or gambling paraphernalia;

(6) obscene materials kept or prepared for commercial

distribution or exhibition, subject to the additional rules set

forth by law;

(7) a drug, controlled substance, immediate

precursor, chemical precursor, or other controlled substance

property, including an apparatus or paraphernalia kept, prepared,

or manufactured in violation of the laws of this state;

(8) any property the possession of which is prohibited

by law;

(9) implements or instruments used in the commission

of a crime;

(10) property or items, except the personal writings

by the accused, constituting evidence of an offense or constituting

evidence tending to show that a particular person committed an

offense;

(11) persons;

(12) contraband subject to forfeiture under Chapter 59

of this code;

(13) electronic customer data held in electronic

storage, including the contents of and records and other

information related to a wire communication or electronic

communication held in electronic storage; [
or
]

(14) a cellular telephone or other wireless

communications device, subject to Article 18.0215
; or

(15)

location information described by Article

18B.372(a)
.

SECTION 2. Article 18B.001, Code of Criminal Procedure, is

amended by adding Subdivisions (2-a), (7-a), and (10-a) and

amending Subdivision (9-b) to read as follows:

(2-a)

"Data broker" means a business entity who for

compensation collects, processes, or transfers personal data that

the entity did not collect directly from the person linked or

linkable to the personal data. The term does not include an

electronic communications service or a remote computing service.

(7-a)

"Electronic personal data tracker"

means a

business entity that directly collects, with or without the user's

consent, the personal data of a user of an electronic application or

program or a user of an Internet website through the user's

interaction with the application, program, or website or an

interaction that occurs automatically between the user's device and

the application, program, or website.

The term includes a third

party who collects the personal data of the user under an agreement

with the business entity, regardless of whether the third party

administers or maintains the application, program, or website.

(9-b) "Location information" means data, records, or

other information that
:

(A)
is created by or accessible to a provider of

an electronic communications service
,
[
or
] a provider of a remote

computing service
, a data broker, or an electronic personal data

tracker;
and

(B)
may be used to identify the
previous or

current
geographic physical location of a communication device,

including the [
current,
] real-time[
,
] or prospective geographic

physical location of a communication device.

(10-a)

"Personal data" means any information that is

linked or reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable

person. The term includes:

(A)

pseudonymous data when the information is

used by a controller or processor in conjunction with additional

information that reasonably links the information to an identified

or identifiable person; and

(B) location information.

SECTION 3. The heading to Subchapter G-1, Chapter 18B, Code

of Criminal Procedure, is amended to read as follows:

SUBCHAPTER G-1.
REQUIRED DISCLOSURE OF
PROSPECTIVE LOCATION

INFORMATION

SECTION 4. Chapter 18B, Code of Criminal Procedure, is

amended by adding Subchapter H-1 to read as follows:

SUBCHAPTER H-1. SEARCH OF CERTAIN PROSPECTIVE OR HISTORICAL

LOCATION INFORMATION PURCHASED FROM DATA BROKER OR ELECTRONIC

PERSONAL DATA TRACKER

Art. 18B.371. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:

(1) "Governmental entity" means:

(A)

an agency, department, commission, bureau,

board, office, council, or other entity that is in any branch of

state government and that is created by the constitution or a

statute of this state, including a university system or an

institution of higher education as defined by Section 61.003,

Education Code;

(B)

a political subdivision of this state,

including a municipality, county, or special-purpose district or

authority; or

(C) a federal agency.

(2)

"Purchase" includes access to location

information obtained by the exchange of anything of value.

Art.

18B.372.

WARRANT REQUIRED FOR SEARCH OF CERTAIN

LOCATION INFORMATION PURCHASED FROM DATA BROKER OR ELECTRONIC

PERSONAL DATA TRACKER. (a)

A governmental entity that has

purchased location information from a data broker or an electronic

personal data tracker may not search that location information

without first obtaining a warrant under this subchapter if any of

the location information may relate to a United States citizen.

(b)

Subsection (a) applies to the search of location

information described by that subsection, regardless of whether the

location information is created before or after the issuance of the

warrant.

(c)

An authorized peace officer may file an application for

a warrant under this subchapter with a district judge in the

judicial district in which the peace officer's employing law

enforcement agency is headquartered.

(d)

The application must be supported by the sworn affidavit

required by Article 18.01(b).

Art.

18B.373.

ISSUANCE OF WARRANT. (a)

On the filing of an

application for a warrant under this subchapter, a district judge

may issue the warrant permitting an authorized peace officer to

search location information described by Article 18B.372(a).

(b)

A warrant may not be issued under this article unless

the sworn affidavit required by Article 18.01(b) provides

sufficient and substantial facts to establish probable cause that

the search of the location information will:

(1)

produce evidence of an offense under

investigation; or

(2)

result in the apprehension of a fugitive from

justice.

Art.

18B.374.

DURATION AND SEALING FOR PROSPECTIVE LOCATION

INFORMATION. (a) If a search for which a warrant is required under

this subchapter may involve location information created after the

issuance of the warrant, the warrant expires not later than the 60th

day after the date the warrant was issued, unless the district judge

provides a shorter expiration period.

(b)

The authorized peace officer may apply for and obtain an

extension of the expiration period described by Subsection (a) from

the court before the warrant expires. Each extension granted under

this subsection may not exceed a period of 60 days.

(c)

Article 18.011 does not apply to an affidavit presented

under Article 18.01(b) for the issuance of a warrant under this

subchapter. A district court that issues a warrant described by

Subsection (a) shall order the warrant and the application for the

warrant sealed and may not unseal the warrant and application until

after the warrant expires.

Art.

18B.375.

CERTAIN EVIDENCE NOT ADMISSIBLE. The state

may not use as evidence in a criminal proceeding any information

obtained through the search of location information described by

Article 18B.372(a) unless a warrant authorizing the search is

obtained under this subchapter before the search is conducted.

Art.

18B.376.

OTHER REMEDIES FOR VIOLATION OF SUBCHAPTER.

A governmental entity that searches location information described

by Article 18B.372(a) in violation of this subchapter shall:

(1)

notify each United States citizen whose location

information was included in the results of the search; and

(2)

for each person described by Subdivision (1),

provide to the person a copy of the location information resulting

from the search that relates to the person and destroy that location

information.

SECTION 5. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to

a search of location information described by Article 18B.373(a),

Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by this Act, that is conducted

on or after the effective date of this Act. A search of location

information conducted before the effective date of this Act is

governed by the law in effect on the date the search was conducted,

and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.