BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3534

By: Morales Shaw

Community Safety, Select

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

According to data from the CDC, the majority of gun deaths are suicides. The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence indicates that in in 2019 alone there were 2,237 suicides by firearm in Texas. These statistics suggest that awareness and education around suicides would be beneficial for individuals with access to firearms. C.S.H.B. 3534 seeks to provide for the creation of an online, printable brochure for the general public and firearm retailers containing certain suicide prevention information and to require the Department of Public Safety to provide the brochure to new handgun license applicants and to those whose licenses are soon to expire.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 3534 amends the Government Code to require the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to post on its website and make available to the public and to firearm retailers a printable brochure, developed in cooperation with the Health and Human Services Commission, which includes the following suicide prevention information:

·         information regarding the warning signs that a person is at risk of suicide; suicide prevention; and state agencies that provide mental health and suicide prevention services; and

·         the phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.

The bill requires DPS to update the brochure not later than October 1 of each year and requires DPS to provide the brochure by mail or email to each new handgun license applicant. The bill revises the requirement for DPS to provide certain documentation to a handgun license holder not later than the 60th day before the expiration date of the license to give DPS the option to email the documentation to the license holder as an alternative to mailing the documentation and to require DPS to also provide with that documentation the suicide prevention brochure.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.

COMPARISON OF INTRODUCED AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 3534 may differ from the introduced in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute omits the requirement included in the introduced for the brochure to include statistics regarding victims of firearms violence. The substitute includes provisions absent from the introduced requiring DPS to make the brochure available to the public and to firearm retailers and requiring DPS to provide the brochure by mail or email to each new handgun license applicant.

The substitute omits provisions regarding the following that were present in the introduced:

·         requirements for certain firearms transfers; and

·         the content requirement for the classroom instruction part of the handgun proficiency course for a handgun license.

The substitute includes a provision absent from the introduced giving DPS the option to email the documentation that must be sent to a handgun license applicant whose license is near expiration instead of mailing the documentation.