Sec. 58.264. PERMISSIBLE DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS. (a) Subject to Subsections (b) and (c) of this section, Section 202.001, Local Government Code, and any other restrictions imposed by an entity's records retention guidelines, the following persons may authorize the destruction of records in a closed juvenile matter, regardless of the date the records were created:

(1) a juvenile board, in relation to the records in the possession of the juvenile probation department;

(2) the head of a law enforcement agency, in relation to the records in the possession of the agency; and

(3) a prosecuting attorney, in relation to the records in the possession of the prosecuting attorney's office.

(b) The records related to a person referred to a juvenile probation department may be destroyed if the person:

(1) is at least 18 years of age, and:

(A) the most serious conduct for which the person was referred was conduct indicating a need for supervision, whether or not the person was adjudicated; or

(B) the referral or information did not relate to conduct indicating a need for supervision or delinquent conduct and the juvenile probation department, prosecutor, or juvenile court did not take action on the referral or information for that reason;

(2) is at least 21 years of age, and:

(A) the most serious conduct for which the person was adjudicated was delinquent conduct that violated a penal law of the grade of misdemeanor; or

(B) the most serious conduct for which the person was referred was delinquent conduct and the person was not adjudicated as having engaged in the conduct; or

(3) is at least 31 years of age and the most serious conduct for which the person was adjudicated was delinquent conduct that violated a penal law of the grade of felony.

(c) If a record contains information relating to more than one person referred to a juvenile probation department, the record may only be destroyed if:

(1) the destruction of the record is authorized under this section; and

(2) information in the record that may be destroyed under this section can be separated from information that is not authorized to be destroyed.

(d) Electronic records are considered to be destroyed if the electronic records, including the index to the records, are deleted.

(e) Converting physical records to electronic records and subsequently destroying the physical records while maintaining the electronic records is not considered destruction of a record under this subchapter.

(f) This section does not authorize the destruction of the records of the juvenile court or clerk of court.

(g) This section does not authorize the destruction of records maintained for statistical and research purposes by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department in a juvenile information and case management system authorized under Section 58.403.

(h) This section does not affect the destruction of physical records and files authorized by the Texas State Library Records Retention Schedule.

Added by Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 746 (S.B. 1304), Sec. 18, eff. September 1, 2017.