78R7859 T

By:  Whitmire                                                     S.B. No. 826



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to amending chapter 49, Code of Criminal Procedure, to 
require timely provision of notice and a report to the attorney 
general regarding the death of any person residing in an 
institution and to amending chapter 38, Penal Code, to make it a 
criminal offense to fail to timely provide such notice and a report; 
providing a criminal penalty.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Chapter 49, Code of Criminal Procedure, is 
amended by adding Article 49.24 to read as follows:
	Art. 49.24.  NOTIFICATION AND REPORT OF DEATH OF RESIDENT OF 
INSTITUTION.  (a)  In addition to any other notification or report 
required by law, if a person dies while in the care or custody of, or 
while residing in, an institution, and the superintendent or 
general manager of the institution is required by article 49.04 of 
this code to notify a justice of the peace of the death, the 
superintendent or general manager of the institution also shall:
		(1)  not later than 24 hours after the person's death, 
notify the attorney general of that person's death; and
		(2)  not later than 72 hours after the person's death, 
prepare and submit to the attorney general a report containing all 
facts relevant to the death.  The superintendent or general manager 
of the institution shall make a good faith effort to obtain all 
facts relevant to the death and include those facts in the report.
	(b)  The attorney general may investigate each death 
reported to him by an institution that receives payments through 
the medical assistance program provided under Chapter 32, Human 
Resources Code.
	(c)  The attorney general shall make the report submitted 
pursuant to subsection (a), with the exception of any portion of the 
report that the attorney general determines is privileged from 
discovery or excepted from required public disclosure under chapter 
552, Government Code, available to any interested person, when 
requested in writing.
	SECTION 2.  Chapter 38, Penal Code, is amended by adding 
Section 38.19 to read as follows:
	Sec. 38.19.  FAILURE TO REPORT DEATH OF RESIDENT OF 
INSTITUTION.  (a)  A person commits an offense if the person is 
required to notify and prepare and submit a report to the attorney 
general by Article 49.24, Code of Criminal Procedure, and the 
person fails to provide notice of the death, fails to file the 
report as required, or fails to include in a filed report facts 
known or discovered by the person.
	(b)  An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.            
	SECTION 3.  (a)  The change in law made by this Act applies 
only to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this 
Act.  For purposes of this section, an offense is committed before 
the effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurs 
before the effective date.
	(b)  An offense committed before the effective date of this 
Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed, 
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 4.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act takes effect on 
September 1, 2003.