87R10401 AJZ-F
By: Hull, White, Patterson, H.B. No. 1419
Morales of Maverick, Price, et al.
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the duties of a law enforcement agency regarding
missing children and missing persons and to the duties of a justice
of the peace or other investigator regarding unidentified bodies.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as John and Joseph's Law.
SECTION 2. Article 49.04, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) A justice of the peace investigating a death described
by Subsection (a)(3)(B), or the justice's designee, shall, not
later than the 10th working day after the date that one or more
identifying features of the unidentified body are determined or the
60th day after the date the investigation began, whichever is
earlier, enter all available identifying features of the
unidentified body (fingerprints, dental records, any unusual
physical characteristics, and a description of the clothing found
on the body) into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons
System.
SECTION 3. Section 7, Article 49.25, Code of Criminal
Procedure, is amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) A person investigating a death described by Section
6(a)(3)(B), or the person's designee, shall, not later than the
10th working day after the date that one or more identifying
features of the unidentified body are determined or the 60th day
after the date the investigation began, whichever is earlier, enter
all available identifying features of the unidentified body
(fingerprints, dental records, any unusual physical
characteristics, and a description of the clothing found on the
body) into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
SECTION 4. Articles 63.009(a), (b), and (f), Code of
Criminal Procedure, are amended to read as follows:
(a) A [Local] law enforcement agency [agencies], on
receiving a report of a missing child or [a] missing person, shall:
(1) if the subject of the report is a child and the
child is at a high risk of harm or is otherwise in danger or if the
subject of the report is a person who is known by the agency to have
or is reported to have chronic dementia, including Alzheimer's
dementia, whether caused by illness, brain defect, or brain injury,
immediately start an investigation in order to determine the
present location of the child or person;
(2) if the subject of the report is a child or person
other than a child or person described by Subdivision (1), start an
investigation with due diligence in order to determine the present
location of the child or person;
(3) immediately, but not later than two hours after
receiving the report, enter the name of the child or person into the
clearinghouse and[,] the national crime information center missing
person file if the child or person meets the center's criteria, and
report that name to the Alzheimer's Association Safe Return
emergency response center [crisis number,] if applicable, with all
available identifying features such as dental records,
fingerprints, other physical characteristics, and a description of
the clothing worn when last seen, and all available information
describing any person reasonably believed to have taken or retained
the missing child or missing person; [and]
(4) not later than the 60th day after the date the
agency receives the report, enter the name of the child or person
into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, with all
available identifying features such as dental records,
fingerprints, other physical characteristics, and a description of
the clothing worn when last seen, and all available information
describing any person reasonably believed to have taken or retained
the missing child or missing person; and
(5) inform the person who filed the report of the
missing child or missing person that the information will be:
(A) entered into the clearinghouse, the national
crime information center missing person file, and the National
Missing and Unidentified Persons System; and
(B) reported to the Alzheimer's Association Safe
Return emergency response center [crisis number,] if applicable.
(b) Information not immediately available when the original
entry is made shall be [obtained by the agency and] entered into the
clearinghouse, [and] the national crime information center file,
and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System as a
supplement to the original entry as soon as possible.
(f) Immediately after the return of a missing child or
missing person or the identification of an unidentified body, the
local law enforcement agency having jurisdiction of the
investigation shall:
(1) clear [cancel] the entry in the national crime
information center database; and
(2) notify the National Missing and Unidentified
Persons System.
SECTION 5. (a) Articles 49.04 and 49.25, Code of Criminal
Procedure, as amended by this Act, apply only to the investigation
of a death of an unidentified person that commences on or after the
effective date of this Act. An investigation that commences before
the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect when
the investigation commenced, and the former law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
(b) Article 63.009, Code of Criminal Procedure, as amended
by this Act, applies only to the report of a missing child or
missing person that is made to a law enforcement agency on or after
the effective date of this Act. The report of a missing child or
missing person that is made to a law enforcement agency 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 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.