| TO: | Honorable Chris Harris, Chair, Senate Committee on Administration |
| FROM: | John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | HB2989 by Capelo (Relating to an inquest when a body part is found and to the qualifications of a person conducting an inquest.), As Engrossed |
The bill would require a justice of the peace to conduct an inquest into the death of a person who dies in the county served by the justice if the body or a body part of a person is found. Other requirements regarding the finding or possession of a body part are also delineated in the proposed statute, including that the justice of the peace, rather than the medical examiner, may request the aid of a forensic anthropologist in examining the body or body part. The bill would take effect September 1, 2003 and apply only to the discovery of a body part of a person that is made on or after that date.
Under existing law, the requirements of the proposed amendments to statute apply to a whole body. The bill would require that processes related to dealing with a whole dead body would also apply to a body part.
| Source Agencies: |
| LBB Staff: | JK, SD, EB, DLBa
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