SB1372

Under the amended section, the prosecutor must designate defense counsel, in accordance with department rules, to access and use the portal to request crime-laboratory records subject to discovery under Code of Criminal Procedure article 39.14. The former wording said “the defendant or the defendant’s attorney, as appropriate.” The new provision does not authorize public access or access to every laboratory record regardless of discovery limits. Final law; Prior designation rule.

The portal is an existing system for requesting and transferring records among laboratories, prosecutors and authorized discovery recipients, not a central repository of laboratory records. SB1372 changes the designation provision; it does not create the portal or repeal article 39.14. That article separately addresses defendants representing themselves: when the court orders production and inspection under subsection (d), the state must permit inspection and review but need not allow the electronic duplication described in subsection (a). Removing a portal-designation alternative is not the same as eliminating all rights to inspect evidence. Existing portal purpose and limit; Discovery law, including self-represented defendants; Final law.

The operative change and proceeding-start transition are the same in all five versions. The amendment index lists no amendments. Introduced; Senate committee; Senate-passed; House committee; Final law; Version index; Amendment index.

Compare the published text versions in the official text index. A change is not attributed to a specific amendment here without a verified record.

Prosecutors must use the revised designation rule for covered new proceedings, and defense attorneys are the expressly designated portal users under that rule. Defendants lose the former express alternative for being designated personally under section 411.164, while separate discovery protections remain. The act does not establish a new fee, promise faster laboratory results or decide any particular person’s discovery request. Final law; Separate discovery protections.

The April 7 fiscal note anticipates no significant state or local fiscal impact and assumes state costs can be absorbed within existing resources. It gives no dollar estimate of private legal costs or time saved. The act makes no appropriation. Fiscal note; Final law.