1-1 By: Serna, Naishtat (Senate Sponsor - Shapleigh) H.B. No. 1092
1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House April 9, 1997;
1-3 April 10, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on
1-4 Jurisprudence; April 23, 1997, reported favorably by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 6, Nays 0; April 23, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to missing children and other missing persons.
1-9 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10 SECTION 1. Section 79.001(3), Human Resources Code, is
1-11 amended to read as follows:
1-12 (3) "Missing child" means a child whose whereabouts
1-13 are unknown to the child's legal custodian, the circumstances of
1-14 whose absence indicate that:
1-15 (A) the child did not voluntarily leave the care
1-16 and control of the custodian, and the taking of the child was not
1-17 authorized by law; [or]
1-18 (B) the child voluntarily left the care and
1-19 control of his legal custodian without the custodian's consent and
1-20 without intent to return; or
1-21 (C) the child was taken or retained in violation
1-22 of the terms of a court order for possession of or access to the
1-23 child.
1-24 SECTION 2. Section 79.008(a), Human Resources Code, is
1-25 amended to read as follows:
1-26 (a) Local law enforcement agencies, on receiving a report of
1-27 a missing child or a missing person, shall:
1-28 (1) if the subject of the report is a child and the
1-29 well-being of the child is in danger, immediately start an
1-30 investigation in order to determine the present location of the
1-31 child;
1-32 (2) if the subject of the report is a person other
1-33 than a child or if the subject of the report is a child whose
1-34 well-being is not considered to be in danger, start an
1-35 investigation with due diligence in order to determine the present
1-36 location of the person; [and]
1-37 (3) immediately enter the name of the child or person
1-38 into the clearinghouse and the national crime information center
1-39 missing person file if the child or person meets the center's
1-40 criteria, with all available identifying features such as dental
1-41 records, fingerprints, other physical characteristics, and a
1-42 description of the clothing worn when last seen; and
1-43 (4) on determining the location of a child under
1-44 Subdivision (1) or (2), other than a child who is subject to the
1-45 continuing jurisdiction of a district court, an officer may take
1-46 possession of the child and shall deliver or arrange for the
1-47 delivery of the child to a person entitled to possession of the
1-48 child. If the person entitled to possession of the child is not
1-49 immediately available, the law enforcement officer shall deliver
1-50 the child to the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services.
1-51 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-52 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-53 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-54 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-55 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-56 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-57 passage, and it is so enacted.
1-58 * * * * *