TMCCP Presents Legislative Update Seminar August 20-21, 2015, San Marcos, Texas HANDOUTS FOR Public Safety August 21, 8:15 9:15 a.m. with Cary Grace Assistant City Attorney, City of Austin Texas Municipal Clerks Certification Program 1155 Union Circle #305067, Denton, Texas 76203-5017 940-565-3488 940-565-2012 fax municlerks@unt.edu http://municlerks.unt.edu
84 TH LEGISLATIVE SESSION LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Cary Grace Assistant City Attorney City of Austin August 21, 2015 THE NUMBERS HERE S WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE ON THE BILL FILING DEADLINE 1
THE CITY OF AUSTIN S LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM AT A GLANCE General Principles Austin supports legislation that enhances the City s ability to solve problems and improve the quality of life for its citizens. Austin opposes legislation that reduces the City s authority, increases the City s costs, or otherwise erodes the City s ability to govern its own local affairs. THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR The Texas Municipal League and city officials defeated legislation that would have: 1. Reduced the current cap on annual increases in residential appraisals from 10 percent to some lesser amount, applied the cap to all real property; or capped city revenues. 2. Limited the ability of cities to issue debt. 3. Eliminated municipal annexation authority. THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR The League and city officials also defeated legislation that would have: 4. Eliminated the ability of city officials to lobby or to join an association that lobbies on their behalf. 5. Required a city to pay money damages for a violation of the permit vesting law. 6. Required expensive cost benefit analysis and reporting prior to the adoption or amendment of building codes. 7. Make criminals out of police officers who enforce federal firearms laws. 2
THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR HB 142 by Stickland/Rinaldi HB 1131 (Elkins) And related bills that would have prohibited redlight camera systems. Generally would have repealed all State law sections that relate to redlight camera systems. LIMITATIONS ON CITY AUTHORITY H.B. 905 (Frullo/Schwertner) Knives: prohibits a city from adopting or enforcing a regulation relating to the transfer, private ownership, keeping, transportation, licensing, or registration of knives. Effective 9/1/15 LIMITATIONS (CON T) S.B. 273 (Campbell/Guillen) Concealed Handgun Signs: allows citizens to file complaints (with evidence) and the attorney general to enforce fines ($1,000 for a first offense, $10,000 for subsequent offenses) against political subdivisions that unlawfully post signs that prohibit concealed weapons on property where concealed handgun license holders (CHL holders) are legally permitted to carry. 3
LIMITATIONS (CON T) S.B. 273 (con t) Currently no enforcement mechanism exists to ensure that political subdivisions follow the law when it comes to allowing CHL holders to exercise their right to legally carry. When uncooperative governments post signs to ban Texas citizens from carrying where it is legal, they are breaking the law and infringing on the second amendment rights of Texas citizens. S.B. 273 provides an enforcement mechanism through the OAG to stop these illegal postings. LIMITATIONS (CON T) SB 273 (con t) does not expand in any way the types of places under Chapter 46.03 (Places Weapons Prohibited) of the Penal Code where a CHL holder is prohibited or not prohibited from legally carrying. LIMITATIONS (CON T) SB 273 (con t) a state agency or political subdivision may only prohibit a concealed handgun licensee from carrying in a meeting room where a governmental body that is subject to the Open Meetings Act is meeting. Effective 9/1/15 4
FAVORABLE BILLS H.B. 1061 (Zedler/Whitmire) Interference with Public Duties; aka Doxing : provides a rebuttable presumption that a person is interfering with a peace officer if a person intentionally disseminates a peace officer s home address, home telephone number, emergency contact information, or social security number. Effective 9/1/15 ANOTHER FAVORABLE BILL SB 923 (Watson) more Doxing : amends Penal Code 36.06, Obstruction or Retaliation, to make it an offense for a person to post, on a publicly accessible website, the residence address or telephone number of an individual the actor knew was a public servant or member of a public servant's family or household. ANOTHER FAVORABLE BILL H.B. 1481 (Murphy/Birdwell) Drones: prohibits the use of a drone over, among other things, certain energy facilities, pipelines, water facilities, dams, and other critical infrastructure other than by the government, including a city, or by a person under contract with a law enforcement agency. Effective 9/1/15 5
AGREATBILL S.B. 158 (West/Fletcher) Body Worn Cameras: a law enforcement agency in this state may apply to the office of the governor for a grant to equip officers with body cameras if the agency employs officers who: (a) are engaged in traffic or highway patrol or otherwise regularly stop or detain motor vehicles; or (b) respond to calls for assistance from the public. AGREATBILL(CON T) SB 158 (con t): a law enforcement agency that receives a grant or that otherwise operates a body worn camera program must adopt a policy and training program for the use of body cameras. AGREATBILL(CON T) SB 158 (con t): the public will have LIMITED access to BWC recordings: essentially makes all BWC recordings unavailable to the public unless a recording is retained for investigatory purposes; defines private space and prohibits release of the portions of a recording made in a private space; prohibits release of the portions of a recording made of a citizen during a traffic stop [primarily]. 6
AGREATBILL(CON T) SB 158 (con t): member of the public who makes a request for a recording that is presumed to be public must provide police department with three data points: 1) The date and time of the recording; 2) The specific location where the recording occurred, and 3) The name or one or more persons known to be the subject of the recording. AGREATBILL(CON T) SB 158 (con t): police department may seek to withhold BWC recording under the same exceptions that apply to other law enforcement records; police departments have the benefit of extended deadlines for seeking a ruling from the attorney general defines voluminous requests for BWC recordings, and it gives police departments an extended deadline when releasing recordings in response to a voluminous request. DISCLOSURE IN DWI CASES HB 3791 (Geren) Disclosure of dash camera or body worn camera video of DWI arrests: Requires law enforcement agency to provide copy of video made by officer at scene of DWI or other intoxication arrest at the request of the person stopped or arrested. Also requires release of video of procedure during which a breath or blood specimen is taken. No longer permits law enforcement agency to require defendant to obtain video evidence through discovery. Effective 9/1/15 7
BORDER SECURITY H.B. 11 (D. Bonnen/Birdwell) Border Security: this bill, among other things: (1) authorizes law enforcement, pursuant to a judge s order, to intercept wire, oral, or electronic communications of individuals involved in prostitution and human trafficking; (2) establishes an officer of Transnational and Organized Crime within the attorney general s office that will address border security and provide assistance to local prosecutors and law enforcement agencies related to border crime and human trafficking; BORDER SECURITY (CON T) HB 11 (con t): (3) authorizes the construction of a multiuse training facility to be used by state and local police; (4) requires reporting by certain border cities and counties to the Texas Transnational Intelligence Center regarding kidnappings, home invasions, and incidents of impersonation of law enforcement officers within the region; and (5) creates the crime of continuous smuggling of persons. Effective September 1, 2015. SYNTHETIC DRUGS SB 172 and SB 173 (Huffman) Synthetic Drugs: Both a collaborative effort by law enforcement, prosecutors, and criminal forensics people to more effectively categorize synthetic marijuana and other chemical compounds. Current law does not adequately criminalize all synthetic drugs because the manufacturers change the formula so that the synthetic falls outside of the definition of what is an illegal substance. These bills, together, solve that problem. Effective 9/1/15. 8
PSEUDONYM FOR VICTIMS OF STALKING H.B. 1293 (Alvarado/Huffman) Stalking: allows the victim of certain stalking offenses to choose a pseudonym to be used instead of the victim s actual name to designate the victim in all public files and records concerning the offense. Effective September 1, 2015. FIRST RESPONDER TRAINING H.B. 1338 (Naishtat/Menendez) Peace Officer Training: requires the Department of Public Safety to create and maintain peace officer and first responder training programs on handling individuals with brain injuries and veterans with combat related trauma, posttraumatic stress, post traumatic stress disorder, or a traumatic brain injury. Effective September 1, 2015. COLTON S LAW HB 2053 (Farney) Child Safety Check (Colton s Law): Requires the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), if at any time during an investigation of a report of child abuse or neglect to which DFPS has assigned the highest priority, DFPS is unable to locate the child who is the subject of the report of abuse or neglect or the child's family, to notify the DPS that the location of the child and the child's family is unknown. 9
COLTON S LAW (CON T) HB 2053 (con t): Requires DPS to conduct an investigation to determine the location of the child and the child's family using all available resources, including the use of the child safety check alert list. The bill requires DPS, if DPS locates the child and the child's family, to notify DFPS of their location. Effective 9/1/15 KARI S LAW SB 788 (Eltife): Requires hotels and other businesses to eliminate the need to dial an extra number to reach an outside line when making emergency 911 calls. Kari s Law applies to all businesses with outside lines. In the case of hotels and motels, it also instructs the provider to enable 911 communications officials to see the room of origin for emergency calls. GUNS H.B. 910 (Phillips/Estes) Handgun Open Carry: this bill generally authorizes a person with a concealed handgun license to open carry in a belt or shoulder holster in the same manner as a concealed handgun licensee under current law. It essentially removes the concealed limitation in the current statute. Effective 1/1/16 10
GUNS HB 910 (con t) A handgun license holder may not carry a handgun in the following places: (A) On property of another, without effective consent, if the person received notice that entry on the property by a license holder openly carrying a handgun was forbidden. Exception: The offense of Trespass by License Holder With an Openly Carried Handgun does not apply to property that is owned or leased by a governmental entity and is not a place on which the license holder is prohibited from carrying the handgun. (Thus, a license holder may carry a holstered handgun on many City owned properties.) GUNS HB 910 (con t) (B) Prohibited Places (Penal Code Sec. 46.03 and 46.035): schools, and school vehicles; polling places on the day of an election, or during early voting; on the premises of any government court or offices utilized by the court, unless pursuant to written regulations or written authorization of the court; in or into a secured area of an airport; in the room or rooms where a meeting of a governmental entity is held and if the meeting is an open meeting subject to the Open Meetings Act and the entity provided notice as required by the that law. GUNS HB 910 (con t) Premises means a building or a portion of a building. The term does not include any public or private driveway, street, sidewalk or walkway, parking lot, parking garage, or other parking area. 11
MORE GUNS SB 11 (Birdwell) Campus Carry: The campus carry bill allows anyone with a handgun license to carry a concealed handgun in most areas on public or private universities. Public universities have the ability to designate specific areas as gun free zones and private universities can opt out of campus carry entirely. Effective 8/1/16; For public junior colleges, effective 8/1/17. DISASTER DECLARATION S.B. 1465 (Watson/Phillips) Disaster Declaration: authorizes: (1) the governor to declare a limited purpose disaster invoking only the authority to suspend deadlines and state regulations on an affected city, including budget or tax deadlines; and (2) the Division of Emergency Management to establish and operate a search and rescue task force in each field response region. Effective immediately. ANOTHER LIMITATION S.B. 1593 (Lucio/Lucio) Sale of Fireworks: provides that a home rule city may not define and prohibit as a nuisance the sale of fireworks or similar materials within the 5,000 foot nuisance zone outside the city limits. Effective September 1, 2015. 12
STILL ANOTHER LIMITATION S.B. 1766 (Creighton/Metcalf) Regulation of Honey: prohibits a local health department or city from regulating honey production by a small honey production operation. Effective September 1, 2015. INFECTION CONTROL S.B. 1574 (Uresti/Martinez) Infection Control: this bill, among other things: (1) requires each entity with first responders, including a city, to designate an infection control officer and an alternate infection control officer and requires each infection control officer to perform certain duties related to receiving notification and providing notification of potential exposures to infectious diseases, among other duties. Effective 9/1/15 ONLY IN TEXAS S.J.R. 22 (Creighton/Ashby) Right to Hunt, Fish, and Harvest Wildlife: proposes an amendment to the Texas Constitution that will: (1) enshrine in that document that the people have the right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife, including by the use of traditional methods, subject to laws or regulations to conserve and manage wildlife and preserve the future of hunting and fishing; and (2) provide that: (a) hunting and fishing are preferred methods of managing and controlling wildlife; 13
ONLY IN TEXAS (b) the amendment does not affect any provision of law relating to trespass, property rights, or eminent domain; and (c) the amendment does not affect the power of the legislature to authorize a city to regulate the discharge of a weapon in a populated area in the interest of public safety. Effective if approved at the election on November 3, 2015. MUNICIPAL COURT FIRST CHAIR, SECOND CHAIR H.B. 1386 (Raymond/Ellis) Attorneys in municipal court: removes the limitation in current law that municipal court cases may have only one attorney conducting the prosecution or defense. Effective 9/1/15 MUNICIPAL COURT DUE PROCESS FOR DOGS H.B. 1436 (Smithee/Lucio) Dangerous Dogs: makes changes to the dangerous dog appeals process, including: (1) prohibiting a municipal court from ordering the destruction of a dog during an appeal; (2) requiring the animal control authority of a city to notify an owner of a dangerous dog determination in writing; (3) providing a process for an owner to file an appeal a dangerous dog determination; 14
MUNICIPAL COURT DUE PROCESS FOR DOGS (4) requiring the municipal court to determine the estimated costs to house and care for an impounded dog during the appeal process and set a bond for an appeal adequate to cover the costs; and (5) allowing a party to appeal the decision in the county court or county court at law in the county in which the municipal court is located. Effective September 1, 2015. QUESTIONS? Contact me: 512.974 2509 cary.grace@austintexas.gov 15