| Vote Recommendation | Economic Freedom | Property Rights | Personal Responsibility | Limited Government | Individual Liberty |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | Neutral | Neutral | Neutral | Positive | Neutral |
Relating to a requirement that law enforcement agencies enter into the Texas Data Exchange information related to investigations of sexual assault or other sex offenses.
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
HB 3106 would require local law enforcement agencies to enter certain information regarding a person they view as a suspect in a sexual assault or other sex crime into the Texas Data Exchange database. Law enforcement agencies would be required to remove the information from the database on the earlier of the following: the date the person being investigated is no longer considered a suspect, the date the suspect was charged with a crime, or upon the 5th anniversary of the information being entered.
Importantly, the information entered in this database would not be subject to disclosure under the Public Information Act. This is an important protection to ensure that information about a suspect who may in fact be innocent is not unnecessarily made public. An innocent person should not unnecessarily live under a cloud of suspicion because they were at some point considered a suspect of a sex crime but later determined not to be a suspect.
This bill will provide a helpful tool for law enforcement and we applaud the provisions specifically stipulating that information entered in the database is not subject to disclosure and providing an appropriate mechanism for removing a person from the database when they are no longer considered a suspect. This approach supports the principle of limited government. We support HB 3106.