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Senate Bill 1096 |
Senate Author: Zaffirini |
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Effective: 9-1-17 |
House Sponsor: Smithee |
Senate Bill 1096 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure, Estates Code, Family Code, Government Code, and Health and Safety Code to require a peace officer who detains or arrests a person who is a ward or a peace officer who takes a child ward into custody to notify the court having jurisdiction over the ward's guardianship of the ward's detention or arrest by a specified deadline and to set out training requirements for an individual to serve as a guardian. The bill provides for the creation and administration of a mandatory registration program for guardianships and for the establishment and maintenance of and access to a guardianship database by the Office of Court Administration. The bill requires the Supreme Court of Texas to establish a process by which the Judicial Branch Certification Commission performs criminal history background checks for individuals seeking appointment as a guardian and to require certain training be completed before an individual is appointed as a guardian. The bill sets out the commission's duty to obtain criminal history record information relating to an individual seeking such appointment, provides for the commission's use of such information, and authorizes the commission to impose a fee for obtaining such information.