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