Bill Caption

Fiscal Notes

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

Bill Analysis

Under current law, law enforcement agency employment records are required to be submitted to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement. These records are kept confidential unless the person resigned or was terminated due to substantiated incidents of excessive force or violations of the law other than traffic offenses. HB 2050 would extend this confidentiality to the copy of the employment record retained by the law enforcement agency that submitted to the commission.

Vote Recommendation Notes

The legislative intent behind the current confidentiality statute was always likely intended to protect the original file retained by law enforcement agencies and perhaps it was a simple oversight that the statute does not specify that. This legislation closes what may be interpreted as a loophole to access information that is otherwise intended to be confidential. Because this merely clarifies existing law rather than making substantive changes we view this as a procedural bill not connected to our liberty principles and we remain neutral.