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A number of bills are working their way through the legislative process this session which deal with sex offender registration and protecting victims of sexual offenses.
House Bill 497 requires a registered sex offender to immediately report any changes to his or her name to the local law enforcement agency. Under current law, if a sex offender changes his or her name, it would not have to be reported until the offender's yearly or 90-day report, therefore leaving him or her virtually unsupervised. This bill closes that loophole and further provides that before a court grants a name change, a registered sex offender must provide proof to the court that the person has notified the local law enforcement agency of the proposed name change.
House Bill 670 addresses the use of pseudonyms by victims of sexual offenses. Under current law, a victim of a sexual offense is allowed to have a pseudonym used instead of the victim's actual name in public files and records, including police summary reports, press releases and records of judicial proceedings. If the person is the victim of other offenses that occurred during the commission of the sexual offense, the pseudonym may not be used for the non-sexual offenses. Therefore, the true identity of the victim could be easily ascertained from court records where the victim's true name is used for the non-sexual offenses. HB 670 would allow a victim to use a pseudonym for public files and records of any offenses that occur during the same criminal episode as a sexual offense.
House Bill 1688 addresses the costs that law enforcement agencies incur for posting sex offender notices in newspapers. The law requires a notice to be posted to inform the public of the location and other descriptive information regarding sex offenders. Sex offenders are required to reimburse the cost of the notice to the law enforcement agency, but often the offender fails to pay the fee. Taxpayers are having to pick up the tab for sex offenders who do not pay these fees. HB 1688 would allow a city to charge the cost of the notice to a sex offender's water bill or other city-provided utility bill. The city would collect the money through this method and reimburse the law enforcement agency.
You can reach me by writing to P.O. Box 2910, Austin, TX 78768-2910 or by e-mailing me at larry.phillips@house.state.tx.us.
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