1-1 By: West S.B. No. 283
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed January 26, 1999; February 1, 1999,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Criminal Justice;
1-4 March 1, 1999, reported favorably, as amended, by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; March 1, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1 By: West
1-7 Amend S.B. No. 283 by adding the following at the end of Section
1-8 52.032 of SECTION 3 of the bill:
1-9 "The guidelines adopted under this section shall not be considered
1-10 mandatory."
1-11 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-12 AN ACT
1-13 relating to the requirement that a juvenile board adopt guidelines
1-14 for the informal disposition of a child.
1-15 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-16 SECTION 1. Subsection (a), Section 52.03, Family Code, is
1-17 amended to read as follows:
1-18 (a) A law-enforcement officer authorized by this title to
1-19 take a child into custody may dispose of the case of a child taken
1-20 into custody without referral to juvenile court, if:
1-21 (1) guidelines for such disposition have been adopted
1-22 [issued by the law-enforcement agency in which the officer works;]
1-23 [(2) the guidelines have been approved] by the
1-24 juvenile board of the county in which the disposition is made as
1-25 required by Section 52.032;
1-26 (2) [(3)] the disposition is authorized by the
1-27 guidelines; and
1-28 (3) [(4)] the officer makes a written report of the
1-29 officer's [his] disposition to the law-enforcement agency,
1-30 identifying the child and specifying the grounds for believing that
1-31 the taking into custody was authorized.
1-32 SECTION 2. Subsection (c), Section 52.031, Family Code, is
1-33 amended to read as follows:
1-34 (c) The disposition of a child under the first offender
1-35 program may not take place until[:]
1-36 [(1)] guidelines for the disposition have been adopted
1-37 [issued] by the juvenile board of the county in which the
1-38 disposition is made as required by Section 52.032 [the agency
1-39 designated under Subsection (b); and]
1-40 [(2) the juvenile board has approved the guidelines].
1-41 SECTION 3. Chapter 52, Family Code, is amended by adding
1-42 Section 52.032 to read as follows:
1-43 Sec. 52.032. INFORMAL DISPOSITION GUIDELINES. The juvenile
1-44 board of each county, in cooperation with each law enforcement
1-45 agency in the county, shall adopt guidelines for the disposition of
1-46 a child under Section 52.03 or 52.031.
1-47 SECTION 4. The juvenile board of each county shall adopt the
1-48 guidelines required by Section 52.032, Family Code, as added by
1-49 this Act, not later than January 1, 2000.
1-50 SECTION 5. (a) The change in law made by this Act applies
1-51 only to a disposition under Section 52.03 or 52.031, Family Code,
1-52 as amended by this Act, based on conduct that occurs on or after
1-53 January 1, 2000. Conduct violating a penal law of the state occurs
1-54 on or after January 1, 2000, if every element of the violation
1-55 occurs on or after that date.
1-56 (b) Conduct that occurs before January 1, 2000, is covered
1-57 by the law in effect immediately before the effective date of this
1-58 Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-59 SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-60 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
1-61 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-62 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-63 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-2 * * * * *