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.

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