82R7525 MAW-D

By: Truitt H.B. No. 2099

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to an alert for a missing person with an intellectual disability.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. The heading to Subchapter M, Chapter 411, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

SUBCHAPTER M. SILVER ALERT FOR MISSING SENIOR CITIZENS AND PERSONS

WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES

SECTION 2. Section 411.381, Government Code, is amended by amending Subdivisions (1) and (2) and adding Subdivisions (2-a) and (2-b) to read as follows:

(1) "Alert" means the statewide silver alert for missing senior citizens and persons with intellectual disabilities that is developed and implemented under this subchapter.

(2) "Local law enforcement agency" means a local law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the investigation of a missing senior citizen or person with intellectual disability.

(2-a) "Person with intellectual disability" means a person with significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning that is concurrent with deficits in adaptive behavior and originates during the development period. The term includes a person with a pervasive developmental disorder.

(2-b) "Pervasive developmental disorder" means a disorder that meets the criteria for a pervasive developmental disorder established in the most recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders published by the American Psychiatric Association.

SECTION 3. Section 411.382, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 411.382. SILVER ALERT FOR MISSING SENIOR CITIZENS AND PERSONS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES. With the cooperation of the Texas Department of Transportation, the office of the governor, and other appropriate law enforcement agencies in this state, the department shall develop and implement a statewide silver alert to be activated on behalf of a missing senior citizen or person with intellectual disability.

SECTION 4. Section 411.383, Government Code, is amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:

(b) The director shall adopt rules and issue directives as necessary to ensure proper implementation of the alert. The rules and directives must include:

(1) the procedures to be used by a local law enforcement agency to verify whether a person reported missing [a senior citizen:

[(A) is missing; and

[(B)] has an impaired mental condition and is 65 years of age or older or is a person with intellectual disability;

(2) a description of the circumstances under which a local law enforcement agency is required to report a missing senior citizen or person with intellectual disability to the department; and

(3) the procedures to be used by an individual or entity to report information about a missing senior citizen or person with intellectual disability to designated media outlets in this state [Texas].

(c) The director may adopt a rule renaming the alert.

SECTION 5. Section 411.386, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 411.386. NOTIFICATION TO DEPARTMENT OF MISSING SENIOR CITIZEN OR PERSON WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY. (a) A local law enforcement agency may notify the department if the agency:

(1) receives notice of a missing senior citizen or person with intellectual disability;

(2) verifies that at the time the senior citizen or other person is reported missing:

(A) the person reported missing:

(i) has an impaired mental condition and is 65 years of age or older; or

(ii) is a person with intellectual disability;

(B) the person's [senior citizen's] location is unknown; and

(C) the person's [senior citizen's] domicile is in this state [Texas]; and

[(D) the senior citizen has an impaired mental condition; and]

(3) determines that the person's [senior citizen's] disappearance poses a credible threat to the person's [senior citizen's] health and safety.

(b) The local law enforcement agency shall:

(1) require the family or legal guardian of the missing senior citizen or person with intellectual disability to provide documentation [of the senior citizen's impaired mental condition] to verify the condition described [as required] by Subsection (a)(2)(A)(i) or (a)(2)(A)(ii), as applicable [(a)(2)(D)]; and

(2) as soon as practicable, determine whether the [senior citizen's] disappearance of the senior citizen or other person poses a credible threat to the person's [senior citizen's] health and safety for purposes of Subsection (a)(3).

SECTION 6. Section 411.387(b), Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

(b) In issuing the alert, the department shall send the alert to designated media outlets in Texas. Following receipt of the alert, participating radio stations, television stations, and other media outlets may issue the alert at designated intervals to assist in locating the missing senior citizen or person with intellectual disability.

SECTION 7. Section 411.388, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 411.388. CONTENT OF SILVER ALERT. The alert must include:

(1) all appropriate information that is provided by the local law enforcement agency and that may lead to the safe recovery of the missing senior citizen or person with intellectual disability; and

(2) a statement instructing any person with information related to the missing senior citizen or person with intellectual disability to contact a local law enforcement agency.

SECTION 8. Section 411.389, Government Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 411.389. TERMINATION OF SILVER ALERT. (a) The director shall terminate any activation of the alert with respect to a particular missing senior citizen or person with intellectual disability not later than the earlier of the date on which:

(1) the missing senior citizen or other person is located or the situation is otherwise resolved; or

(2) the notification period ends, as determined by department rule.

(b) A local law enforcement agency that locates a missing senior citizen or person with intellectual disability who is the subject of an alert under this subchapter shall notify the department as soon as possible that the missing senior citizen or other person has been located.

SECTION 9. Not later than December 1, 2011, the public safety director of the Department of Public Safety of the State of Texas shall adopt rules and issue directives to implement Section 411.383, Government Code, as amended by this Act.

SECTION 10. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.