84R3268 MEW-D
	By: Canales	H.B. No. 541

	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 of a custodial interrogation 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 of the 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 an offense under:
	(1)  Section 19.02, Penal Code (murder);
	(2)  Section 19.03, Penal Code (capital murder);
	(3)  Section 20.03, Penal Code (kidnapping);
	(4)  Section 20.04, Penal Code (aggravated
	kidnapping);
	(5)  Section 20A.02, Penal Code (trafficking of
	persons);
	(6)  Section 20A.03, Penal Code (continuous
	trafficking of persons);
	(7)  Section 21.02, Penal Code (continuous sexual abuse
	of young child or children);
	(8)  Section 21.11, Penal Code (indecency with a
	child);
	(9)  Section 21.12, Penal Code (improper relationship
	between educator and student);
	(10)  Section 22.011, Penal Code (sexual assault);
	(11)  Section 22.021, Penal Code (aggravated sexual
	assault); or
	(12)  Section 43.25, Penal Code (sexual performance by
	a child).
	(c)  For purposes of Subsection (b), an electronic recording
	of a custodial interrogation is complete only if the recording
	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.
	(d)  A recording of a custodial interrogation that complies
	with this article is exempt from public disclosure except as
	provided by Section 552.108, Government Code.
	(e)  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
	the law enforcement agency has good cause. For purposes of this
	subsection, "good cause" includes:
	(1)  the accused refused to respond to questioning or
	cooperate in a custodial interrogation of which an electronic
	recording was made, provided that:
	(A)  a contemporaneous recording of the refusal
	was made; or
	(B)  the peace officer or agent of the law
	enforcement agency conducting the interrogation attempted, in good
	faith, to record the accused's refusal but the accused was
	unwilling to have the refusal recorded, and the peace officer or
	agent contemporaneously, in writing, documented the refusal;
	(2)  the statement was not made exclusively as the
	result of a custodial interrogation, including a statement that was
	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 interrogation attempted, in good faith, to
	record the interrogation but the recording equipment did not
	function, the officer or agent inadvertently operated the equipment
	incorrectly, or the equipment malfunctioned or stopped operating
	without the knowledge of the officer or agent;
	(4)  exigent public safety concerns prevented or
	rendered infeasible the making of an electronic recording of the
	custodial interrogation; or
	(5)  the peace officer or agent of the law enforcement
	agency conducting the interrogation reasonably believed at the time
	the interrogation commenced that the accused interrogated was not
	taken into custody for or being interrogated concerning the
	commission of an offense listed in Subsection (b).
	Art. 2.33.  LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES QUALIFIED TO CONDUCT
	CERTAIN CUSTODIAL INTERROGATIONS. Only a law enforcement agency
	that employs peace officers described by Subdivision (1), (2), (3),
	(4), (5), (6), (7), (8), or (30), Article 2.12, is qualified to
	conduct a custodial interrogation of an individual suspected of
	committing an offense listed in Article 2.32(b).
	SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.