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.