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Committee adopts skimmer exemption so devices used only for payment-card theft can be searched without phone warrant
Summary
The Senate Committee on Criminal Justice adopted a committee substitute for SB 1497 to clarify that card skimmers are not “wireless communication devices” under Article 18.0215, allowing law enforcement to access data on seized skimmers without a warrant; the committee reported the substitute favorably to the full Senate.
Chair Flores opened the Committee on Criminal Justice hearing Wednesday and recognized Senator Nichols to explain SB 1497, a bill to clarify that skimming devices used to steal payment-card information are not covered by the state’s warrant requirement for wireless communication devices.
The measure would amend article 18.0215 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to exempt skimmers—devices designed solely to steal magnetic-stripe payment data found on fuel pumps, ATMs and point-of-sale terminals—from the statutory definition of a “cellular telephone or other wireless communication device.”…
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