1-1 By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 502
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 10, 1997; February 12, 1997,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
1-4 April 10, 1997, reported favorably, as amended, by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; April 10, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-6 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1 By: Ellis
1-7 Amend S.B. No. 502 on page 1, line 42, insert the following as
1-8 SECTION 2 of the bill and renumber each subsequent SECTION
1-9 appropriately:
1-10 SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 264.514, Family Code, is
1-11 amended to read as follows:
1-12 (a) A medical examiner or justice of the peace notified of a
1-13 death of a child under Section 264.513 shall hold an inquest under
1-14 Chapter 49, Code of Criminal Procedure, to determine whether the
1-15 death is unexpected. An inquest is not required under this
1-16 subchapter if the child's death is expected and is due to a
1-17 congenital or neoplastic disease. A death caused by an infectious
1-18 disease may be considered an expected death if:
1-19 (1) the disease was not acquired as a result of trauma
1-20 or poisoning;
1-21 (2) the infectious organism is identified using
1-22 standard medical procedures; and
1-23 (3) the death is not reportable to the Texas
1-24 Department of Health under Chapter 81, Health and Safety Code.
1-25 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-26 AN ACT
1-27 relating to autopsies performed on a body if the deceased was a
1-28 child younger than six years of age.
1-29 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-30 SECTION 1. Subsection (e), Article 49.10, Code of Criminal
1-31 Procedure, is amended to read as follows:
1-32 (e) A justice of the peace shall order an autopsy performed
1-33 on a body if:
1-34 (1) the justice determines that an autopsy is
1-35 necessary to determine or confirm the nature and cause of death;
1-36 (2) the deceased was a child younger than six years of
1-37 age and the death is determined [was reported] under Section
1-38 264.514 [Chapter 264], Family Code, to be unexpected; or
1-39 (3) directed to do so by the district attorney,
1-40 criminal district attorney, or, if there is no district or criminal
1-41 district attorney, the county attorney.
1-42 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and
1-43 applies only to a death of a child younger than six years of age
1-44 that occurs on or after September 1, 1997. A death of a child that
1-45 occurs before September 1, 1997, is governed by the law as it
1-46 existed immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that
1-47 law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-48 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-49 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-50 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-51 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-52 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-53 * * * * *