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| Aug 27, 2023
At the 2023 Texas Trailblazer Awards Luncheon, we’ll be recognizing the many dedicated individuals who championed Texas House Bill 5202 with the Texas Trailblazer Legislative Impact Award. Conceived by Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia and authored by State Representative Victoria Neave Criado, House Bill 5202 passed in the 88th Legislative Session and was signed into law on June 11, 2023.
The bill creates a free, centralized website containing information on individuals who have repeatedly committed felony intimate partner violence. While this information is publicly available through various background check websites, it can be expensive, creating a substantial barrier to getting this critical information. House Bill 5202 provides information about repeat, violent offenders so that individuals can make better-informed decisions about their relationships.
Family violence advocates were included in the design and implementation of the database. Dallas’ Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking Advisory Council identified improved data on offenders and creating more robust education in schools as critical to reducing the incidents of violence. HB 5202 increases accountability with better data for police, educators, and partners in the work to break the cycle of violence.
The database will contain information regarding offenders who on two or more occasions have been convicted of any of the following offenses:
- Assault, sexual assault, aggravated assault, or aggravated sexual assault for which an affirmative finding of family violence was made
- Continuous violence against the family or stalking
- Any combination of such offenses
The database will contain the following information, to the extent it is available:
- The person’s full name, each alias used by the person, and the person’s date of birth
- A physical description and recent photograph of the person
- A list of the applicable offenses of which the person was convicted, the date of conviction of each offense, and the punishment prescribed for each offense
- An indication as to whether the person was discharged, placed on community supervision, or released on parole or to mandatory supervision following conviction of each offense
LEARN MORE: https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/analysis/html/HB05202E.htm