Enrolled Bill Summary

Senate Bill 1551	Senate Author:  Rodriguez et al.
Effective:  9-1-11	House Sponsor:  Raymond et al.

Senate Bill 1551 amends the Code of Criminal Procedure to establish venue for prosecution of an offense classified as an offense against the person involving a victim younger than 18 years of age, or an offense of interference with child custody, that results in bodily injury to such a child. The bill expands the criteria that determine whether a child is a missing child to include certain circumstances in which the child's whereabouts are unknown and the absence indicates that the child was taken or retained without the permission of the child's legal custodian and with the effect of depriving the custodian of possession of or access to the child unless the taking or retention was prompted by the commission or attempted commission of family violence against the child or the actor.

Senate Bill 1551 amends the Penal Code to expand the conduct that constitutes the offense of interference with child custody to include taking or retaining a child younger than 18 years of age outside of the United States with the intent to deprive a person entitled to possession of or access to the child of that possession or access and without the permission of that person, to establish affirmative defenses to prosecution for that conduct, and to create an exception to the application of the offense involving that conduct.