By McClendon                                    H.B. No. 1929

      75R6778 SKB-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the investigation and reporting of child abuse or

 1-3     neglect.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 261.101(b), Family Code, is amended to

 1-6     read as follows:

 1-7           (b)  If a professional has cause to believe that a child has

 1-8     been or may be abused or neglected, the professional shall make a

 1-9     report not later than the 48th hour after the hour the professional

1-10     first suspects that the child has been or may be abused or

1-11     neglected.  A professional may not delegate to or rely on another

1-12     person to make the report.  In this subsection, "professional"

1-13     means an individual who is licensed or certified by the state or

1-14     who is an employee of a facility licensed, certified, or operated

1-15     by the state and who, in the normal course of official duties or

1-16     duties for which a license or certification is required, has direct

1-17     contact with children.  The term includes teachers, nurses,

1-18     doctors, [and] day-care employees, juvenile probation officers, and

1-19     juvenile detention or correctional officers.

1-20           SECTION 2.  Section 261.405, Family Code, is amended to read

1-21     as follows:

1-22           Sec. 261.405.  INVESTIGATIONS IN PRE-ADJUDICATION AND

1-23     POST-ADJUDICATION SECURE JUVENILE CORRECTIONAL [COUNTY JUVENILE

1-24     DETENTION] FACILITIES.  A report of alleged abuse or neglect in a

 2-1     public or private, pre-adjudication or post-adjudication secure

 2-2     [county] juvenile correctional [detention] facility shall be made

 2-3     to a local law enforcement agency for investigation.  The local law

 2-4     enforcement agency shall immediately notify the Texas Juvenile

 2-5     Probation Commission of any report the agency receives.

 2-6           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

 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.