Art. 60.02. INFORMATION SYSTEMS    

(b) The Department of Public Safety is responsible for recording data and maintaining a data base for a computerized criminal history system that serves as the record creation point for criminal history information maintained by the state.

(c) The criminal justice information system shall be established and maintained to supply the state with a system:

(1) that provides law enforcement officers with an accurate criminal history record depository;

(2) that provides criminal justice agencies with an accurate criminal history record depository for operational decision making;

(3) from which accurate criminal justice system modeling can be conducted;

(4) that improves the quality of data used to conduct impact analyses of proposed legislative changes in the criminal justice system; and

(5) that improves the ability of interested parties to analyze the functioning of the criminal justice system.

(d) The data bases must contain the information required by this chapter.

(e) The Department of Public Safety shall designate the offense codes and has the sole responsibility for designating the state identification number for each person whose name appears in the criminal justice information system.

(f) The Department of Public Safety and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shall implement a system to link the computerized criminal history system and the corrections tracking system. Data received by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice that is required by the Department of Public Safety for the preparation of a criminal history record shall be made available to the computerized criminal history system not later than the seventh day after the date on which the Texas Department of Criminal Justice receives the request for the data from the Department of Public Safety.

(g) The Department of Public Safety is responsible for the operation of the computerized criminal history system and shall develop the necessary interfaces in the system to accommodate inquiries from a statewide automated fingerprint identification system, if such a system is implemented by the department.

(h) Whenever possible, the reporting of information relating to dispositions and subsequent offender processing data shall be conducted electronically.

(i) The Department of Public Safety and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, with advice from the council and the Department of Information Resources, shall develop biennial plans to improve the reporting and accuracy of the criminal justice information system and to develop and maintain monitoring systems capable of identifying missing information.

(j) At least once during each five-year period the council shall coordinate an examination of the records and operations of the criminal justice information system to ensure the accuracy and completeness of information in the system and to ensure the promptness of information reporting. The state auditor, or other appropriate entity selected by the council, shall conduct the examination with the cooperation of the council, the Department of Public Safety, and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The Department of Public Safety, the council, and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice may examine the records of the agencies required to report information to the Department of Public Safety or the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. The examining entity shall submit to the legislature and the council a report that summarizes the findings of each examination and contains recommendations for improving the system. Not later than the first anniversary after the date the examining entity submits its report, the Department of Public Safety shall report to the Legislative Budget Board, the governor, the state auditor, and the council on the department's progress in implementing the examining entity's recommendations, including for each recommendation not implemented the reason for not implementing the recommendation. The Department of Public Safety shall submit a similar report each year following the submission of the first report until each of the examining entity's recommendations is implemented.

(k) The council, the Department of Public Safety, the criminal justice division of the governor's office, and the Department of Information Resources cooperatively shall develop and adopt a grant program, to be implemented by the criminal justice division at a time and in a manner determined by the division, to aid local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and court personnel in obtaining equipment and training necessary to operate a telecommunications network capable of:

(1) making inquiries to and receiving responses from the statewide automated fingerprint identification system and from the computerized criminal history system; and

(2) transmitting information to those systems.

(m) Notwithstanding Subsection (j), work performed under this section by the state auditor is subject to approval by the legislative audit committee for inclusion in the audit plan under Section 321.013(c), Government Code.