By:  West                                              S.B. No. 283
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to the requirement that a juvenile board adopt guidelines
 1-2     for the informal disposition of a child.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 52.03, Family Code, is
 1-5     amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (a)  A law-enforcement officer authorized by this title to
 1-7     take a child into custody may dispose of the case of a child taken
 1-8     into custody without referral to juvenile court, if:
 1-9                 (1)  guidelines for such disposition have been adopted
1-10     [issued by the law-enforcement agency in which the officer works;]
1-11                 [(2)  the guidelines have been approved] by the
1-12     juvenile board of the county in which the disposition is made as
1-13     required by Section 52.032;
1-14                 (2) [(3)]  the disposition is authorized by the
1-15     guidelines; and
1-16                 (3) [(4)]  the officer makes a written report of the
1-17     officer's [his] disposition to the law-enforcement agency,
1-18     identifying the child and specifying the grounds for believing that
1-19     the taking into custody was authorized.
1-20           SECTION 2.  Subsection (c), Section 52.031, Family Code, is
1-21     amended to read as follows:
1-22           (c)  The disposition of a child under the first offender
1-23     program may not take place until[:]
1-24                 [(1)]  guidelines for the disposition have been adopted
 2-1     [issued] by the juvenile board of the county in which the
 2-2     disposition is made as required by Section 52.032 [the agency
 2-3     designated under Subsection (b); and]
 2-4                 [(2)  the juvenile board has approved the guidelines].
 2-5           SECTION 3.  Chapter 52, Family Code, is amended by adding
 2-6     Section 52.032 to read as follows:
 2-7           Sec. 52.032.  INFORMAL DISPOSITION GUIDELINES.  The juvenile
 2-8     board of each county, in cooperation with each law enforcement
 2-9     agency in the county, shall adopt guidelines for the disposition of
2-10     a child under Section 52.03 or 52.031.  The guidelines adopted
2-11     under this section shall not be considered mandatory.
2-12           SECTION 4.  The juvenile board of each county shall adopt the
2-13     guidelines required by Section 52.032, Family Code, as added by
2-14     this Act, not later than January 1, 2000.
2-15           SECTION 5.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies
2-16     only to a disposition under Section 52.03 or 52.031, Family Code,
2-17     as amended by this Act, based on conduct that occurs on or after
2-18     January 1, 2000.  Conduct violating a penal law of the state occurs
2-19     on or after January 1, 2000, if every element of the violation
2-20     occurs on or after that date.
2-21           (b)  Conduct that occurs before January 1, 2000, is covered
2-22     by the law in effect immediately before the effective date of this
2-23     Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-24           SECTION 6.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-25           SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-26     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-2     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.