Reference Tidbit - Going to the Poll on November 8, 2011 - Non-disclosure and Expungement of Criminal Records in Texas

By Jessica R. Alexander, J.D., M.L.S., Reference Librarian

I made it to my polling station last Tuesday, November 8, 2011, with three minutes to spare. I will admit that I did not know that I would have an opportunity to vote on a constitutional initiative that may ease the problems with so-called "deferred adjudications" in Texas.

Proposition 9 on the ballot was worded: "The constitutional amendment authorizing the governor to grant a pardon to a person who successfully completes a term of deferred adjudication community supervision." (Spanish) “Enmienda constitucional que autoriza al gobernador para conceder el indulto a personas que cumplan con éxito un plazo de supervisión comunitaria por adjudicación aplazada.” See Texas Legislative Council analysis of the proposition at http://www.tlc.state.tx.us/pubsconamend/analyses11/analyses11.pdf.

For years citizens and even attorneys believed that a deferred adjudication plea bargain in a criminal case meant that, after the probationary period of deferred adjudication had run, the accused's criminal record would be clear. But, the cold truth is that these deferred adjudications show up in publicly accessible law enforcement records and are treated as convictions by people such as potential employers and landlords, however wrongly. Secondly, the expungement procedure under Chapter 55 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure is not available to people who are placed on Community Supervision under Article 42.12 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Alas, almost all people who plea in exchange for deferred adjudication are placed on Community Supervision.

For purposes of brevity see the website of the Harris County District Attorney, Patricia Lykos, and click on Frequently Asked Questions -- deferred adjudication.

Back to election of November 8, and Proposition 9. : It passed by 57% in favor to 43% opposed. It is companion to a bill signed into law on June 16, 2011, SB 144 of the 82nd Regular Session of the Texas Legislature, 2011, introduced by my friend, Representative Royce West of Dallas, and authorizes "...the governor to grant a pardon to a person who successfully completes a term of deferred adjudication community supervision."

The law is codified in Article 48.01 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Information on the implementation of the new law can be found on the Texas Board of Pardon and Paroles web page.

Texas Code Revision - The Venerable Probate Code Gets a Name Change

Jessica R. Alexander, J.D.,M.L.S., Reference Librarian.

Effective January 2014, the Texas Probate Code will be replaced by the Estates Code. The Probate Code revision project involves a non-substantive revision of the code. Follow the foregoing link for a full explanation of the project. West has issued an interim pamphlet (2009) Pamphlet Vernon's Texas Codes Annotated Estates Code) (KFT1230.5 V4 E88) with the changes approved by the 81st Legislature. This unannotated pamphlet is shelved just after the Elections Code and contains Title 1 - General Provisions and Title 2 - Estates of Decedents. Further revisions will be presented by the Texas Legislative Council to the 82nd Legislature in January 2011. The council is responsible for the Texas code revision project that has been going on for more than forty years. The goal of the project is to simplify Texas law by turning the old statutory alphabetical arrangement into subject matter codes. The Probate Code existed before the revision project, and was placed alphabetically between the statutory arrangement in Vernon's Texas Revised Civil Statutes Annotated. These statutes were last revised in bulk in 1925, and changes and additions to the laws made these "Black Statutes," confusing.

An in depth explanation of Texas statutory history is contained in Chapter 11 of Texas Legal Research: an Essential Lawyering Skill by Lydia M. Brandt. (1995). Some of the material in this book must be brought up to date by the reader.