85R3078 MEW-F
 
  By: Collier H.B. No. 414
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the electronic recording of certain custodial
  interrogations.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Chapter 2, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
  amended by adding Articles 2.32 and 2.33 to read as follows:
         Art. 2.32.  ELECTRONIC RECORDING OF CUSTODIAL
  INTERROGATIONS. (a) In this article:
               (1)  "Custodial interrogation" means any investigative
  questioning, other than routine questions associated with booking,
  by a  peace officer during which:
                     (A)  a reasonable person in the position of the
  person being interrogated would consider himself or herself to be
  in custody; and
                     (B)  a question is asked that is reasonably likely
  to elicit an incriminating response.
               (2)  "Electronic recording" means an audio or
  audiovisual electronic recording that begins at or before the time
  the person being interrogated receives a warning described by
  Section 2(a), Article 38.22, and continues until the time the
  interrogation ceases.
               (3)  "Place of detention" means a police station or
  other building that is a place of operation for a law enforcement
  agency, including a municipal police department or county sheriff's
  department, and is owned or operated by the law enforcement agency
  for the purpose of detaining individuals in connection with the
  suspected violation of a penal law. The term does not include a
  courthouse.
         (b)  A law enforcement agency qualified under Article 2.33 to
  conduct a custodial interrogation regarding an offense shall make
  an electronic recording of any custodial interrogation that occurs
  in a place of detention and is of a person suspected of committing
  or charged with the commission of a felony offense.
         (c)  An electronic recording of a custodial interrogation
  that complies with this article is exempt from public disclosure
  except as provided by Section 552.108, Government Code.
         (d)  A law enforcement agency otherwise required to make an
  electronic recording of a custodial interrogation under this
  article is excused from the duty to make the electronic recording
  if:
               (1)  the accused refuses to respond to questioning or
  cooperate in a custodial interrogation of which an electronic
  recording is made, provided that:
                     (A)  a contemporaneous recording of the refusal is
  made; or
                     (B)  the peace officer or agent of the law
  enforcement agency conducting the interrogation attempts, in good
  faith, to record the accused's refusal but the accused is unwilling
  to have the refusal recorded, and the peace officer or agent
  contemporaneously, in writing, documents the refusal;
               (2)  the statement is not made as a result of a
  custodial interrogation, including a statement that is made
  spontaneously by the accused and not in response to a question by a
  peace officer;
               (3)  the peace officer or agent of the law enforcement
  agency conducting the custodial interrogation attempts, in good
  faith, to record the interrogation, but the recording equipment
  does not function and the officer or agent contemporaneously, in
  writing, documents the reason why it is not possible to delay the
  interrogation; or
               (4)  the peace officer or agent of the law enforcement
  agency conducting the custodial interrogation reasonably believes
  at the time the interrogation commences that the accused to be
  interrogated was not taken into custody for or being interrogated
  concerning the commission of a felony offense.
         Art. 2.33.  LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES QUALIFIED TO CONDUCT
  CERTAIN CUSTODIAL INTERROGATIONS. Only a law enforcement agency
  that employs peace officers described by Article 2.12(1), (2), (3),
  (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), or (29) is qualified to conduct a custodial
  interrogation of an individual suspected of committing a felony
  offense.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.