BILL ANALYSIS S.B. 789 By: Harris Jurisprudence 04-12-95 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND The Joint Interim Committee on the Family Code made a recommendation to provide a mechanism that would allow law enforcement personnel to take possession of a child without a court order when the child is listed as a missing child and is the subject of an investigation and there is reason to believe that a person will flee with or conceal the child. PURPOSE As proposed, S.B. 789 authorizes an authorized representative of the Texas Department of Human Services, a law enforcement officer, or a juvenile probation officer to take possession and to deliver a child to a person entitled to possession of the child, in an emergency without a court order. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Sections 17.03(a) and (h), Family Code, as follows: (a) Authorizes an authorized representative of the Texas Department of Human Services, a law enforcement officer, or a juvenile probation officer to take possession of a child without a court order only under certain conditions, except as provided by Section 17.032 of this code. (h) Prohibits a child taken into possession from being held in isolation or in a jail or juvenile detention facility. Prohibits the child from being placed in a facility where the child can see, be seen by, hear, or be heard by a child who has been adjudicated as a child who engaged in delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision under Title 3. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 17, Family Code, by adding Section 17.032, as follows: Sec. 17.032. POSSESSION AND DELIVERY OF MISSING CHILD. (a) Authorizes a law enforcement officer who discovers during a criminal investigation relating to a child's custody that the child is a missing child and who believes that a person may flee with or conceal the child to take possession of the child and deliver or arrange for the delivery of the child to a parent or other person entitled to possession of the child. (b) Provides that a law enforcement officer who takes possession of a child and delivers or arranges for the delivery of the child to a person entitled to possession is immune from criminal and civil liability for actions relating to the delivery of the child if, at the time the possession and delivery occurs, the officer reasonably believes that the child is a missing child and the person to whom the child is delivered is entitled to possession of the child. (c) Defines "missing child." SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 1995. SECTION 4. Emergency clause.