82R11063 MAW-F
By: Rodriguez S.B. No. 1551
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to missing children and missing persons; providing a
criminal penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 63.001(4), Code of Criminal Procedure,
is amended to read as follows:
(4) "Missing child" or "missing person" also includes
a person of any age who is missing and:
(A) is under proven physical or mental disability
or is senile, and because of one or more of these conditions is
subject to immediate danger or is a danger to others;
(B) is in the company of another person or is in a
situation the circumstances of which indicate that the missing
child's or missing person's safety is in doubt; [or]
(C) is unemancipated as defined by the law of
this state; or
(D) whose whereabouts or safety cannot be
confirmed or ascertained by the reporter or by a law enforcement
agency after reasonable inquiries or investigation.
SECTION 2. Section 25.03, Penal Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c-1) 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 prompted
by the commission or attempted commission of family violence, as
defined by Section 71.004, Family Code, against the child or the
actor by the person otherwise entitled to possession of or access to
the child;
(2) the taking or retention of the child was pursuant
to a valid order providing for possession of or access to the child;
or
(3) 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.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act in amending
Article 63.001(4), Code of Criminal Procedure, applies only to the
report of a missing child or a missing person 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 or a
missing person 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.