TITLE: Relating to the reporting by law enforcement agencies of missing children to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

SUMMARY: Relating to the reporting by law enforcement agencies of missing children to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

FULL TEXT:
AN ACT relating to the reporting by law enforcement agencies of missing children to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Article 63.00905(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by Chapter 729 (H.B. 2660), Acts of the 88th Legislature, Regular Session, 2023, is amended to read as follows: (a) Regardless of the jurisdiction in which the child went missing, a law enforcement agency, on receiving a report of a missing child, shall: (1) immediately start an investigation in order to determine the present location of the child; (2) immediately, but not later than two hours after receiving the report, enter the name of the child into the clearinghouse and the national crime information center missing person file if the child meets the center's criteria, 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; (3) immediately, but not later than two hours after the agency receives the report, enter the applicable information into:(A) the Texas Law Enforcement Telecommunications System or a successor system of telecommunication used by law enforcement agencies and operated by the Department of Public Safety; and (B) the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; (4) not later than 48 hours after receiving the report, electronically submit to each municipal or county law enforcement agency within 200 miles the report and any information that may help determine the present location of the child; (5) not later than the 30th day after the date the agency receives the report, enter the name of the child 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; and (6) inform the person who filed the report of the missing child that the information will be: (A) entered into the clearinghouse, the national crime information center missing person file, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System; and (B) submitted to each municipal or county law enforcement agency within 200 miles. SECTION 2. Article 63.00905(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by Chapter 979 (S.B. 2429), Acts of the 88th Legislature, Regular Session, 2023, is repealed as duplicative of Article 63.00905(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, as added by Chapter 729 (H.B. 2660), Acts of the 88th Legislature, Regular Session, 2023. SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.