(a) The director shall appoint, with the advice and consent of the commission, a chief of the bureau of identification and records to be the executive officer of the bureau. The chief and at least one assistant must be recognized identification experts with at least three years’ actual experience.
(b) The bureau of identification and records shall:
(1) procure and file for record photographs, pictures, descriptions, fingerprints, measurements, and other pertinent information of all persons arrested for or charged with a criminal offense or convicted of a criminal offense, regardless of whether the conviction is probated;
(2) collect information concerning the number and nature of offenses reported or known to have been committed in the state and the legal steps taken in connection with the offenses, and other information useful in the study of crime and the administration of justice, including information that enables the bureau to create a statistical breakdown of:
(A) offenses in which family violence was involved;
(B) offenses under Sections 22.011 and 22.021, Penal Code; and
(C) offenses under Sections 20A.02, 43.02, 43.021, 43.03, 43.031, 43.04, 43.041, and 43.05, Penal Code;
(3) make ballistic tests of bullets and firearms and chemical analyses of bloodstains, cloth, materials, and other substances for law enforcement officers of the state;
(4) cooperate with identification and crime records bureaus in other states and the United States Department of Justice;
(5) maintain a list of all previous background checks for applicants for any position regulated under Chapter 1702, Occupations Code, who have undergone a criminal history background check as required by that chapter, if the check indicates a Class B misdemeanor or equivalent offense or a greater offense;
(6) collect information concerning the number and nature of protective orders and magistrate’s orders of emergency protection and all other pertinent information about all persons subject to active orders, including pertinent information about persons subject to conditions of bond imposed for the protection of the victim in any family violence, sexual assault or abuse, indecent assault, stalking, or trafficking case. Information in the law enforcement information system relating to an active order shall include:
(A) the name, sex, race, date of birth, personal descriptors, address, and county of residence of the person to whom the order is directed;
(B) any known identifying number of the person to whom the order is directed, including the person’s social security number or driver’s license number;
(C) the name and county of residence of the person protected by the order;
(D) the residence address and place of employment or business of the person protected by the order;
(E) the child-care facility or school where a child protected by the order normally resides or which the child normally attends;
(F) the relationship or former relationship between the person who is protected by the order and the person to whom the order is directed;
(G) the conditions of bond imposed on the person to whom the order is directed, if any, for the protection of a victim in any family violence, sexual assault or abuse, indecent assault, stalking, or trafficking case;
(H) any minimum distance the person subject to the order is required to maintain from the protected places or persons; and
(I) the date the order expires;
(7) grant access to criminal history record information in the manner authorized under Subchapter F;
(8) collect and disseminate information regarding offenders with mental impairments in compliance with Chapter 614, Health and Safety Code; and
(9) record data and maintain a state database for a computerized criminal history record system and computerized juvenile justice information system that serves:
(A) as the record creation point for criminal history record information and juvenile justice information maintained by the state; and
(B) as the control terminal for the entry of records, in accordance with federal law and regulations, federal executive orders, and federal policy, into the federal database maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Attorney's Note

Under the Texas Codes, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Class B misdemeanorup to 180 daysup to $2,000
For details, see Texas Penal Code § 12.22

Terms Used In Texas Government Code 411.042

  • Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
  • Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. Source:
  • Justice: when applied to a magistrate, means justice of the peace. See Texas Government Code 312.011
  • Person: includes corporation, organization, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, association, and any other legal entity. See Texas Government Code 311.005
  • United States: includes a department, bureau, or other agency of the United States of America. See Texas Government Code 311.005

(c) The bureau chief shall offer assistance and, if practicable, instruction to sheriffs, chiefs of police, and other peace officers in establishing efficient local bureaus of identification in their districts.
(d) The department may charge each person and charge each entity or agency that is not primarily a criminal justice agency a fee for processing inquiries for information that is not criminal history record information regarding a person. A person, entity, or agency that receives information must be entitled to receive the information under state or federal statutes, rules, regulations, or case law. The department may charge actual costs for processing all inquiries under this section.
(e) The department shall deposit all fees collected under this section in the operators and chauffeurs license fund.
(f) The department may keep any record or other information submitted to the department under this section, unless otherwise prohibited by law.
(g) The department may adopt reasonable rules under this section relating to:
(1) law enforcement information systems maintained by the department;
(2) the collection, maintenance, and correction of records;
(3) reports of criminal history information submitted to the department;
(4) active protective orders and reporting procedures that ensure that information relating to the issuance and dismissal of an active protective order is reported to the local law enforcement agency at the time of the order’s issuance or dismissal and entered by the local law enforcement agency in the state’s law enforcement information system;
(5) the collection of information described by Subsection (h);
(6) a system for providing criminal history record information through the criminal history clearinghouse under § 411.0845; and
(7) active conditions of bond imposed on a defendant for the protection of a victim in any family violence, sexual assault or abuse, indecent assault, stalking, or trafficking case, and reporting procedures that ensure that information relating to the issuance, modification, or removal of the conditions of bond is reported, at the time of the issuance, modification, or removal, to:
(A) the victim or, if the victim is deceased, a close relative of the victim; and
(B) the local law enforcement agency for entry by the local law enforcement agency in the state’s law enforcement information system.
(h) Information collected to perform a statistical breakdown of offenses under Sections 22.011 and 22.021, Penal Code, as required by Subsection (b)(2) must include information indicating the specific offense committed and information regarding:
(1) the victim;
(2) the offender and the offender’s relationship to the victim;
(3) any weapons used or exhibited in the commission of the offense; and
(4) any injuries sustained by the victim.
(i) A law enforcement agency shall report offenses under § 22.011 or 22.021, Penal Code, to the department in the form and manner and at regular intervals as prescribed by rules adopted by the department. The report must include the information described by Subsection (h).
(j) The department may contract with private vendors as necessary in implementing this section.