By West                                                S.B. No. 283
         76R2675 JMC-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the requirement that a juvenile board adopt guidelines
 1-3     for the informal disposition of a child.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 52.03(a), Family Code, is amended to read
 1-6     as follows:
 1-7           (a)  A law-enforcement officer authorized by this title to
 1-8     take a child into custody may dispose of the case of a child taken
 1-9     into custody without referral to juvenile court, if:
1-10                 (1)  guidelines for such disposition have been adopted
1-11     [issued by the law-enforcement agency in which the officer works;]
1-12                 [(2)  the guidelines have been approved] by the
1-13     juvenile board of the county in which the disposition is made as
1-14     required by Section 52.032;
1-15                 (2) [(3)]  the disposition is authorized by the
1-16     guidelines; and
1-17                 (3) [(4)]  the officer makes a written report of the
1-18     officer's [his] disposition to the law-enforcement agency,
1-19     identifying  the child and specifying the grounds for believing
1-20     that the taking into custody was authorized.
1-21           SECTION 2.  Section 52.031(c), Family Code, is amended to
1-22     read as follows:
1-23           (c)  The disposition of a child under the first offender
1-24     program may not take place until[:]
 2-1                 [(1)]  guidelines for the disposition have been adopted
 2-2     [issued] by the juvenile board of the county in which the
 2-3     disposition is made as required by Section 52.032 [the agency
 2-4     designated under Subsection (b); and]
 2-5                 [(2)  the juvenile board has approved the guidelines].
 2-6           SECTION 3.  Chapter 52, Family Code, is amended by adding
 2-7     Section 52.032 to read as follows:
 2-8           Sec. 52.032.  INFORMAL DISPOSITION GUIDELINES.  The juvenile
 2-9     board of each county, in cooperation with each law enforcement
2-10     agency in the  county, shall adopt guidelines for the disposition
2-11     of a child under Section 52.03 or 52.031.
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
2-27     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.