Texas 2011 - 82nd Regular

Texas House Bill HB3439 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Raymond (Senate Sponsor - Rodriguez) H.B. No. 3439
2	2	(In the Senate - Received from the House May 16, 2011;
3	3	May 16, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on
4	4	Jurisprudence; May 21, 2011, reported favorably by the following
5	5	vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 21, 2011, sent to printer.)
6	6
7	7
8	8	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
9	9	AN ACT
10	10	relating to missing children; providing a criminal penalty.
11	11	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
12	12	SECTION 1. Article 63.001(3), Code of Criminal Procedure,
13	13	is amended to read as follows:
14	14	(3) "Missing child" means a child whose whereabouts
15	15	are unknown to the child's legal custodian, the circumstances of
16	16	whose absence indicate that:
17	17	(A) the child did not voluntarily leave the care
18	18	and control of the custodian, and the taking of the child was not
19	19	authorized by law;
20	20	(B) the child voluntarily left the care and
21	21	control of the [his legal] custodian without the custodian's
22	22	consent and without intent to return; [or]
23	23	(C) the child was taken or retained in violation
24	24	of the terms of a court order for possession of or access to the
25	25	child; or
26	26	(D) the child was taken or retained without the
27	27	permission of the custodian and with the effect of depriving the
28	28	custodian of possession of or access to the child unless the taking
29	29	or retention of the child was prompted by the commission or
30	30	attempted commission of family violence, as defined by Section
31	31	71.004, Family Code, against the child or the actor.
32	32	SECTION 2. Section 25.03, Penal Code, is amended by
33	33	amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (c-1) and (c-2) to
34	34	read as follows:
35	35	(a) A person commits an offense if the person takes or
36	36	retains a child younger than 18 years of age [when the person]:
37	37	(1) when the person knows that the person's taking or
38	38	retention violates the express terms of a judgment or order,
39	39	including a temporary order, of a court disposing of the child's
40	40	custody; [or]
41	41	(2) when the person has not been awarded custody of
42	42	the child by a court of competent jurisdiction, knows that a suit
43	43	for divorce or a civil suit or application for habeas corpus to
44	44	dispose of the child's custody has been filed, and takes the child
45	45	out of the geographic area of the counties composing the judicial
46	46	district if the court is a district court or the county if the court
47	47	is a statutory county court, without the permission of the court and
48	48	with the intent to deprive the court of authority over the child; or
49	49	(3) outside of the United States with the intent to
50	50	deprive a person entitled to possession of or access to the child of
51	51	that possession or access and without the permission of that
52	52	person.
53	53	(c-1) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under
54	54	Subsection (a)(3) that:
55	55	(1) the taking or retention of the child was pursuant
56	56	to a valid order providing for possession of or access to the child;
57	57	or
58	58	(2) notwithstanding any violation of a valid order
59	59	providing for possession of or access to the child, the actor's
60	60	retention of the child was due only to circumstances beyond the
61	61	actor's control, and the actor promptly provided notice or made
62	62	reasonable attempts to provide notice of those circumstances to the
63	63	other person entitled to possession of or access to the child.
64	64	(c-2) Subsection (a)(3) does not apply if, at the time of
65	65	the offense, the person taking or retaining the child:
66	66	(1) was entitled to possession of or access to the
67	67	child; and
68	68	(2) was fleeing the commission or attempted commission
69	69	of family violence, as defined by Section 71.004, Family Code,
70	70	against the child or the person.
71	71	SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act in amending
72	72	Article 63.001(3), Code of Criminal Procedure, applies only to the
73	73	report of a missing child made under Chapter 63, Code of Criminal
74	74	Procedure, as amended by this Act, on or after the effective date of
75	75	this Act. The report of a missing child made before the effective
76	76	date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when the report was
77	77	made, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
78	78	SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act in amending
79	79	Section 25.03, Penal Code, applies only to an offense committed on
80	80	or after the effective date of this Act. An offense committed
81	81	before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
82	82	effect on the date the offense was committed, and the former law is
83	83	continued in effect for that purpose. For purposes of this section,
84	84	an offense was committed before the effective date of this Act if
85	85	any element of the offense occurred before that date.
86	86	SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
87	87	* * * * *