Relating to intelligence databases for combinations, criminal street gangs, and foreign terrorist organizations.

89(R) SB 2201 - House Committee Report version - Bill Text

By: Birdwell, et al.

S.B. No. 2201

(Geren)

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to intelligence databases for combinations, criminal

street gangs, and foreign terrorist organizations.

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

SECTION 1. Article 67.053, Code of Criminal Procedure, is

amended by adding Subsection (b-1) and amending Subsection (c) to

read as follows:

(b-1)

The department shall develop and make available a

minimum training course for access to and use of the intelligence

database established by the department under Article 67.052.

Before a person may access and use the intelligence database, the

person must complete the minimum training course described by this

subsection.

(c) The department shall adopt rules necessary to implement

this article
, including the content of the training course required

by Subsection (b-1)
.

SECTION 2. Article 67.054, Code of Criminal Procedure, is

amended by adding Subsections (a-1) and (b-1) and amending

Subsection (b) to read as follows:

(a-1)

Criminal information collected under this chapter

requires reasonable suspicion to be included in an intelligence

database. Reasonable suspicion is established when sufficient

facts provide a trained law enforcement or criminal justice agency

officer, investigator, or employee with a basis to believe there is

a reasonable possibility that an individual or organization is

involved in a definable criminal activity or enterprise.

(b) Criminal information collected under this chapter

relating to a criminal street gang or foreign terrorist

organization must:

(1) be relevant to the identification of an

organization that is reasonably suspected of involvement in

criminal activity; and

(2) consist of:

(A) a judgment under any law that includes, as a

finding or as an element of a criminal offense, participation in a

criminal street gang or foreign terrorist organization;

(B) a self-admission by an individual of

membership in a criminal street gang or foreign terrorist

organization [
that is made during a judicial proceeding
]; or

(C) [
except as provided by Subsection (c),
] any

two of the following:

(i) [
a self-admission by the individual of

membership in a criminal street gang or foreign terrorist

organization that is not made during a judicial proceeding,

including the use of the Internet or other electronic format or

medium to post photographs or other documentation identifying the

individual as a member of a criminal street gang or foreign

terrorist organization;

[
(ii)
] an identification of the individual

as a member of a criminal street gang or foreign terrorist

organization by a
documented criminal street gang member or foreign

terrorist organization member or a family member
[
reliable

informant or other individual;

[
(iii)

a corroborated identification of the

individual as a member of a criminal street gang or foreign

terrorist organization by an informant or other individual of

unknown reliability
];

(ii)
[
(iv)
] evidence that the individual

frequents
or is located at
a
previously
documented area of a

criminal street gang or foreign terrorist organization
, including

physical, digital, or online locations
[
and associates with known

members of a criminal street gang or foreign terrorist

organization
];

(iii)
[
(v)
] evidence that the individual

uses, in more than an incidental manner, criminal street gang or

foreign terrorist organization dress, hand signals, tattoos, or

symbols, including expressions of letters, numbers, words, or

marks, regardless of how or the means by which the symbols are

displayed, that are associated with a criminal street gang or

foreign terrorist organization [
that operates in an area frequented

by the individual and described by Subparagraph (iv)
];

(iv)
[
(vi)
] evidence that the individual

has been arrested or taken into custody [
with known members of a

criminal street gang or foreign terrorist organization
] for an

offense or conduct consistent with gang activity as defined by

Section 125.061, Civil Practice and Remedies Code
, with:

(a)

known members of a criminal street

gang or foreign terrorist organization; or

(b)

individuals who use, in more than

an incidental manner, criminal street gang or foreign terrorist

organization dress, hand signals, tattoos, or symbols, including

expressions of letters, numbers, words, or marks, regardless of how

or the means by which the symbols are displayed, that are associated

with a criminal street gang or foreign terrorist organization
;

(v)
[
(vii)
] evidence that the individual

communicates, whether in person, in writing, or electronically,

with
[
has visited
] a known member of a criminal street gang or

foreign terrorist organization[
, other than a family member of the

individual,
] while the member is confined in or committed to a penal

institution; or

(vi)
[
(viii)
] evidence of the individual's

use of technology, including the Internet
and social media
, to

advertise the criminal street gang or foreign terrorist

organization or
recruit new members of a criminal street gang or

foreign terrorist organization.

(b-1)

If a law enforcement officer has reasonable suspicion

that an individual is associated with a criminal street gang or

foreign terrorist organization as a result of meeting the criteria

to be included in the intelligence database, the officer's name and

department must be included in the database with the individual's

submitted information.

SECTION 3. Article 67.151(b), Code of Criminal Procedure,

is amended to read as follows:

(b)
Information that is
[
Subject to Subsection (c),

information
] collected
about an individual
under this chapter
and

that relates
[
relating
] to a criminal street gang must be removed

after five years from an intelligence database established under

Article 67.051 and the intelligence database maintained by the

department under Article 67.052
unless new
[
if:

[
(1)
the
] information
is submitted that meets the

submission criteria under Article 67.054 to be included in those

intelligence databases
[
relates to the investigation or

prosecution of criminal activity engaged in by an individual other

than a child; and

[
(2)

the individual who is the subject of the

information has not been arrested for criminal activity reported to

the department under Chapter 66
].

SECTION 4. Article 67.152(b), Code of Criminal Procedure,

is amended to read as follows:

(b)
Information that is
[
Subject to Subsection (c),

information
] collected
about a child
under this chapter
and that

relates
[
relating
] to a criminal street gang must be removed after

two years from an intelligence database established under Article

67.051 and the intelligence database maintained by the department

under Article 67.052
unless new
[
if:

[
(1) the
] information
is submitted that meets the

submission criteria under Article 67.054 to be included in those

intelligence databases
[
relates to the investigation or

prosecution of criminal activity engaged in by a child; and

[
(2) the child who is the subject of the information has

not been:

[
(A) arrested for criminal activity reported to

the department under Chapter 66; or

[
(B) taken into custody for delinquent conduct

reported to the department under Chapter 58, Family Code
].

SECTION 5. Subchapter D, Chapter 67, Code of Criminal

Procedure, is amended by adding Article 67.153 to read as follows:

Art.

67.153.

AUDIT. The state auditor annually shall

conduct an audit of information that is held in the department's

intelligence database maintained under Article 67.052.

SECTION 6. The following provisions of the Code of Criminal

Procedure are repealed:

(1) Article 67.054(c);

(2) Article 67.151(c); and

(3) Article 67.152(c).

SECTION 7. (a) The Department of Public Safety shall

develop and make available the minimum training course required by

Article 67.053(b-1), Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by this

Act, not later than January 1, 2026.

(b) A person who begins accessing the intelligence database

maintained under Chapter 67, Code of Criminal Procedure, before

January 1, 2026, is not required to take the minimum training course

described by Article 67.053(b-1), Code of Criminal Procedure, as

added by this Act, before January 1, 2027.

SECTION 8. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.