TO: | Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice |
FROM: | John Keel, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
IN RE: | SB826 by Whitmire (Relating to reporting the deaths of certain individuals; providing a criminal penalty. ), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted |
The bill would amend the Code of Criminal Procedure by requiring Institutions to notify the Justice of the Peace and notify the attorney general of an individual’s death within 24 hours of the death and prepare and submit a report within 72 hours of their death. The reports would be available to the public unless a portion of the report is exempt from public disclosure or privileged from discovery. The bill states the attorney general may investigate any institution that receives payments through the medical assistance program. The bill would amend the Penal Code by making it a Class B Misdemeanor for a superintendant or general manager of an institution to fail to provide notice of the death, fail to file the report, or fail to include in a filed report facts known or discovered by the person. The act would take effect September 1, 2003. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Office of the Attorney General have determined that the cost of implementing the provisions of this bill would not be significant.
Source Agencies: | 302 Office of the Attorney General
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LBB Staff: | JK, JO, WK, GG, MS, BL, KG
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