| |
| |
| |
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to missing children; providing a criminal penalty. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Article 63.001(3), Code of Criminal Procedure, |
|
|
is amended to read as follows: |
|
|
(3) "Missing child" means a child whose whereabouts |
|
|
are unknown to the child's legal custodian, the circumstances of |
|
|
whose absence indicate that: |
|
|
(A) the child did not voluntarily leave the care |
|
|
and control of the custodian, and the taking of the child was not |
|
|
authorized by law; |
|
|
(B) the child voluntarily left the care and |
|
|
control of the [his legal] custodian without the custodian's |
|
|
consent and without intent to return; [or] |
|
|
(C) the child was taken or retained in violation |
|
|
of the terms of a court order for possession of or access to the |
|
|
child; or |
|
|
(D) the child was taken or retained without the |
|
|
permission of the custodian and with the effect of depriving the |
|
|
custodian of possession of or access to the child unless the taking |
|
|
or retention of the child was prompted by the commission or |
|
|
attempted commission of family violence, as defined by Section |
|
|
71.004, Family Code, against the child or the actor. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 25.03, Penal Code, is amended by |
|
|
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (c-1) and (c-2) to |
|
|
read as follows: |
|
|
(a) A person commits an offense if the person takes or |
|
|
retains a child younger than 18 years of age [when the person]: |
|
|
(1) when the person knows that the person's taking or |
|
|
retention violates the express terms of a judgment or order, |
|
|
including a temporary order, of a court disposing of the child's |
|
|
custody; [or] |
|
|
(2) when the person has not been awarded custody of |
|
|
the child by a court of competent jurisdiction, knows that a suit |
|
|
for divorce or a civil suit or application for habeas corpus to |
|
|
dispose of the child's custody has been filed, and takes the child |
|
|
out of the geographic area of the counties composing the judicial |
|
|
district if the court is a district court or the county if the court |
|
|
is a statutory county court, without the permission of the court and |
|
|
with the intent to deprive the court of authority over the child; or |
|
|
(3) outside of the United States with the intent to |
|
|
deprive a person entitled to possession of or access to the child of |
|
|
that possession or access and without the permission of that |
|
|
person. |
|
|
(c-1) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under |
|
|
Subsection (a)(3) that: |
|
|
(1) the taking or retention of the child was pursuant |
|
|
to a valid order providing for possession of or access to the child; |
|
|
or |
|
|
(2) notwithstanding any violation of a valid order |
|
|
providing for possession of or access to the child, the actor's |
|
|
retention of the child was due only to circumstances beyond the |
|
|
actor's control, and the actor promptly provided notice or made |
|
|
reasonable attempts to provide notice of those circumstances to the |
|
|
other person entitled to possession of or access to the child. |
|
|
(c-2) Subsection (a)(3) does not apply if, at the time of |
|
|
the offense, the person taking or retaining the child: |
|
|
(1) was entitled to possession of or access to the |
|
|
child; and |
|
|
(2) was fleeing the commission or attempted commission |
|
|
of family violence, as defined by Section 71.004, Family Code, |
|
|
against the child or the person. |
|
|
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act in amending |
|
|
Article 63.001(3), Code of Criminal Procedure, applies only to the |
|
|
report of a missing child made under Chapter 63, Code of Criminal |
|
|
Procedure, as amended by this Act, on or after the effective date of |
|
|
this Act. The report of a missing child made before the effective |
|
|
date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the report was |
|
|
made, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. |
|
|
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act in amending |
|
|
Section 25.03, Penal Code, applies only to an offense committed on |
|
|
or after the effective date of this Act. An offense committed |
|
|
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in |
|
|
effect on the date the offense was committed, and the former law is |
|
|
continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section, |
|
|
an offense was committed before the effective date of this Act if |
|
|
any element of the offense occurred before that date. |
|
|
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011. |
| |
| |
| |
| |
______________________________ |
______________________________ |
| |
President of the Senate |
Speaker of the House |
| |
| |
|
|
I certify that H.B. No. 3439 was passed by the House on May |
|
|
13, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 134, Nays 0, 2 present, not |
|
|
voting. |
|
|
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
|
Chief Clerk of the House |
| |
| |
|
|
I certify that H.B. No. 3439 was passed by the Senate on May |
|
|
24, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0. |
|
|
|
|
|
______________________________ |
|
|
Secretary of the Senate |
|
|
APPROVED: _____________________ |
|
|
Date |
|
|
|
|
|
_____________________ |
|
|
Governor |