By De La Garza                                         H.B. No. 490
       74R2806 DAK-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to juvenile court jurisdiction over and disposition of
    1-3  certain children younger than 10 years of age.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 51.02(1), Family Code, is amended to read
    1-6  as follows:
    1-7              (1)  "Child" means a person who is:
    1-8                    (A)  eight <ten> years of age or older and under
    1-9  17 years of age; or
   1-10                    (B)  seventeen years of age or older and under 18
   1-11  years of age who is alleged or found to have engaged in delinquent
   1-12  conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision as a result of
   1-13  acts committed before becoming 17 years of age.
   1-14        SECTION 2.  Chapter 53, Family Code, is amended by adding
   1-15  Section 53.035 to read as follows:
   1-16        Sec. 53.035.  CHILD YOUNGER THAN 10 YEARS OF AGE.  (a)  This
   1-17  section applies only to a child taken into custody or detained for
   1-18  engaging in conduct before the child's 10th birthday and, to the
   1-19  extent of a conflict, prevails over any other provision of this
   1-20  title.
   1-21        (b)  A child to whom this section applies may not:
   1-22              (1)  be referred to the grand jury under Section
   1-23  53.045;
   1-24              (2)  be transferred to a district court or criminal
    2-1  district court for criminal proceedings under Section 54.02; or
    2-2              (3)  be committed to the Texas Youth Commission.
    2-3        (c)  The statement of a child to whom this section applies is
    2-4  not admissible in evidence under any circumstances.  The warnings
    2-5  under Section 51.09 are not required to be given to the child.
    2-6        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    2-7        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-8  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    2-9  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-10  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-11  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.