JWW H.B. 2899 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS PUBLIC SAFETY H.B. 2899 By: Crabb 4-28-97 Committee Report (Amended) BACKGROUND State law relating to the procedure leading to the identification and whereabouts of missing children and missing persons is often overlooked because it is in the Human Resources Code. Law enforcement agencies, judges, medical examiners, physicians, dentists, and others involved in identifying missing children and missing persons would be better served if this chapter was transferred to the Code of Criminal Procedure which is much more accessible. The abduction of a child in violation of a court order governing custody can be extremely harmful emotionally and even physically to the child. Some law enforcement agencies mistakenly believe that a warrant must be issued first on the abductor before a missing child report can be made. This misconception prevents or delays the child from being entered into the state clearinghouse on missing children and can unnecessarily prolong the anguish and damaging effects of the abduction. Death certificates contain important information such as cause of death and the location of where a body was found. This information can be crucial in the effort to identify an unidentified body. This effort can be hampered when a physician performing a postmortem examination of the body of an unidentified person fails to file a death certificate with the state clearinghouse. PURPOSE This bill transfers the statute regarding missing children and missing persons from the Human Resources Code to the Code of Criminal Procedure. In addition, it expands the definition of a missing child and requires a death certificate to be filed with the Missing Persons Clearinghouse whenever an autopsy is performed on an unidentified body. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1 Moves Chapter 79, Human Resources Code to Title 1, Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 62. Makes conforming changes to section numbers. Section 62.001(c). This subsection is added to include instances where a child was taken or retained in violation of a court order regarding custody. Section 62.008(a). Replaces "Central" with "Texas" regarding the Texas Education Agency. Section 62.009(c). This subsection is amended to state that all law enforcement agencies are require to report to the clearinghouse, and the national crime information center, information regarding all unidentified bodies. No later than the 10th day following the report of a death, the law enforcement agency is required to report to the clearinghouse, and the national crime information center file, all available identifying features of an unidentified body. Section 62.018. DEATH CERTIFICATES. This section is added to state that physicians performing a postmortem examination on an unidentified body are required to file a death certificate with the missing persons clearinghouse. This is required no later than the 10th working day after the death certificate is issued. SECTION 2 Effective Date: September 1, 1997. SECTION 3 Emergency Clause. EXPLANATION OF AMENDMENTS Amendment #1 removes a requirement from Section 62.018, Human Resources Code, that a death certificate be filed with the vital statistics division the Texas Department of Human Resources. Language requiring that a death certificate be filed in accordance with Chapter 193, Health and Safety Code, is added. Later in the same section the word "issues" is replaced with the word "files" in reference to the physician's actions pertaining to the death certificate.