Bill Text: TX HB2045 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to automatic expunction of arrest records and files for certain persons who are tried for an offense and subsequently acquitted.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-23 - Filed [HB2045 Detail]

Download: Texas-2025-HB2045-Introduced.html

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89R5002 CJD-D
By: A. Davis of Dallas H.B. No. 2045

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to automatic expunction of arrest records and files for
certain persons who are tried for an offense and subsequently
acquitted.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 55A.201, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by amending Subsections (a) and (d) and adding Subsection
(e) to read as follows:
(a) An [At the request of the acquitted person and after
notice to the state, or at the request of the attorney representing
the state with the consent of the acquitted person, an] expunction
order shall be entered, not later than the 30th day after the date
of the acquittal, for a person entitled to expunction under Article
55A.002 by:
(1) the trial court presiding over the case in which
the person was acquitted, if the court is:
(A) a district court;
(B) a justice court; or
(C) a municipal court of record; or
(2) a district court in the county in which the trial
court is located.
(d) An expunction order under this article shall be prepared
for the court's signature by:
(1) the attorney for the acquitted person in the case
in which the person was acquitted, if the acquitted person was
represented by an attorney; or
(2) the attorney representing the state, if the person
was not represented by an attorney [or if the attorney representing
the state requested the order].
(e) If the trial court is not a court described by
Subsection (a)(1), the trial court shall forward the proposed order
and all information required in a petition for expunction under
Article 55A.253 to a court described by Subsection (a)(2).
SECTION 2. Articles 55A.201(b) and (c), Code of Criminal
Procedure, are repealed.
SECTION 3. (a) This Act applies to the expunction of arrest
records and files for a person entitled to that expunction under
Article 55A.002, Code of Criminal Procedure, before, on, or after
the effective date of this Act, regardless of when the underlying
arrest occurred.
(b) For a person who is entitled to expunction under Article
55A.002, Code of Criminal Procedure, based on an acquittal that
occurred before the effective date of this Act, notwithstanding the
30-day time limit provided for the court to enter an automatic order
of expunction under Article 55A.201, Code of Criminal Procedure, as
amended by this Act, the court shall enter an order of expunction
for the person as soon as practicable after the court receives
written notice from any party to the case about the person's
entitlement to the expunction.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.