Texas Administrative Code › Title 37 - PUBLIC SAFETY AND CORRECTIONS › Part 15 - TEXAS FORENSIC SCIENCE COMMISSION › Chapter 651 - DNA, CODIS, FORENSIC ANALYSIS, AND CRIME LABORATORIES › Subchapter A - ACCREDITATION › Section 651.7 - Disciplines Exempt from Commission Accreditation Requirements by Administrative Rule

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) The Commission
				  has exempted the following categories of forensic analysis from the
				  accreditation requirement by administrative rule:
(1) sexual assault examination of a
				  person;
(2) forensic anthropology,
				  entomology, or botany;
(3)
				  environmental testing;
(4) facial
				  or traffic accident reconstruction;
(5) serial number restoration;
(6) polygraph examination;
(7) voice stress, voiceprint, or similar
				  voice analysis;
(8) statement
				  analysis;
(9) forensic odontology
				  for purposes of human identification or age assessment, not to include bite
				  mark comparison related to patterned injuries;
(10) testing and/or screening conducted for
				  sexually transmitted diseases;
(11)
				  fire scene investigation, including but not limited to cause and origin
				  determinations;
(12) forensic
				  photography;
(13) non-criminal
				  paternity testing;
(14)
				  non-criminal testing of human or nonhuman blood, urine, or tissue, including
				  but not limited to workplace/employment drug testing;
(15) the location, identification,
				  collection, or preservation of physical evidence at a crime scene;
(16) crime scene reconstruction;
(17) confirmatory testing of a human specimen
				  in a laboratory either accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP)
				  forensic drug testing program, or certified by the Centers for Medicare and
				  Medicaid Services of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS/CMS)
				  under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA), or the
				  Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the Department of
				  Health and Human Services (SAMHSA/HHS) limited to analysis of urine testing for
				  approved classes of drugs. This is for the purposes of referring, offering, or
				  making available treatment, diversion, intervention, or monitoring conducted by
				  or under contract with a community supervision and corrections department, the
				  parole division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Board of
				  Pardons and Paroles, or another governmental entity. The results of such
				  testing are subsequently entered into evidence in an action to revise or revoke
				  the terms of an individual's bail, bond, community supervision, or
				  parole;
(18) document examination,
				  including document authentication, physical comparison, and product
				  determination;
(19) other evidence
				  processing or handling that is excluded under §
											651.2(2) of this
				  title (relating to Definitions); or
(20) determination of National Integrated
				  Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) suitability limited to triaging or
				  grouping multiple items of evidence for NIBIN entry and assessing a set of test
				  fires for purposes of NIBIN entry as well as corresponding NIBIN entry. The
				  suitability assessment may include test-firing, but only if no physical
				  modification is made to the firearm other than what occurs during the act of
				  test-firing the weapon, and subject to the condition that the test fire is for
				  NIBIN suitability only and will not be used for comparison purposes or for
				  determination of functionality.