Bill Text: TX HB3161 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to the duties of a justice of the peace, medical examiner, or other investigator regarding the bodies of unidentified deceased persons and to the control by certain persons of the disposition of a deceased person's remains.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-06-12 - Effective on 9/1/23 [HB3161 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB3161-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Relating to the duties of a justice of the peace, medical examiner, or other investigator regarding the bodies of unidentified deceased persons and to the control by certain persons of the disposition of a deceased person's remains.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-06-12 - Effective on 9/1/23 [HB3161 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HB3161-Comm_Sub.html
88R10002 AJZ-F | ||
By: Hull | H.B. No. 3161 |
|
||
|
||
relating to the duties of a justice of the peace, medical examiner, | ||
or other investigator regarding the bodies of unidentified deceased | ||
persons. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Article 49.01, Code of Criminal Procedure, is | ||
amended to read as follows: | ||
Art. 49.01. DEFINITIONS. (a) In this chapter [ |
||
(1) "Autopsy" means a post mortem examination of the | ||
body of a person, including X-rays and an examination of the | ||
internal organs and structures after dissection, to determine the | ||
cause of death or the nature of any pathological changes that may | ||
have contributed to the death. | ||
(2) "Inquest" means an investigation into the cause | ||
and circumstances of the death of a person, and a determination, | ||
made with or without a formal court hearing, as to whether the death | ||
was caused by an unlawful act or omission. | ||
(3) "Inquest hearing" means a formal court hearing | ||
held to determine whether the death of a person was caused by an | ||
unlawful act or omission and, if the death was caused by an unlawful | ||
act or omission, to obtain evidence to form the basis of a criminal | ||
prosecution. | ||
(4) "Institution" means any place where health care | ||
services are rendered, including a hospital, clinic, health | ||
facility, nursing home, extended-care facility, out-patient | ||
facility, foster-care facility, and retirement home. | ||
(5) "Physician" means a practicing doctor of medicine | ||
or doctor of osteopathic medicine who is licensed by the Texas State | ||
Board of Medical Examiners under Subtitle B, Title 3, Occupations | ||
Code. | ||
(b) For purposes of this chapter, a person or body is | ||
considered unidentified if: | ||
(1) the deceased person's legal name is unknown; and | ||
(2) there is no known person with the duty to inter the | ||
deceased person's remains under Section 711.002(a), Health and | ||
Safety Code. | ||
SECTION 2. Article 49.04(a), Code of Criminal Procedure, is | ||
amended to read as follows: | ||
(a) A justice of the peace shall conduct an inquest into the | ||
death of a person who dies in the county served by the justice if: | ||
(1) the person dies in prison under circumstances | ||
other than those described by Section 501.055(b), Government Code, | ||
or in jail; | ||
(2) the person dies an unnatural death from a cause | ||
other than a legal execution; | ||
(3) the body or a body part of a person is found and | ||
either: | ||
(A) the person is identified but [ |
||
circumstances of death are unknown[ |
||
[ |
||
(B) the person is unidentified, regardless of | ||
whether the cause or circumstances of death are known; | ||
(4) the circumstances of the death indicate that the | ||
death may have been caused by unlawful means; | ||
(5) the person commits suicide or the circumstances of | ||
the death indicate that the death may have been caused by suicide; | ||
(6) the person dies without having been attended by a | ||
physician; | ||
(7) the person dies while attended by a physician who | ||
is unable to certify the cause of death and who requests the justice | ||
of the peace to conduct an inquest; or | ||
(8) the person is a child younger than six years of age | ||
and an inquest is required by Chapter 264, Family Code. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 6(a), Article 49.25, Code of Criminal | ||
Procedure, is amended to read as follows: | ||
(a) Any medical examiner, or his duly authorized deputy, | ||
shall be authorized, and it shall be his duty, to hold inquests with | ||
or without a jury within his county, in the following cases: | ||
1. When a person shall die within twenty-four hours | ||
after admission to a hospital or institution or in prison or in | ||
jail; | ||
2. When any person is killed; or from any cause dies an | ||
unnatural death, except under sentence of the law; or dies in the | ||
absence of one or more good witnesses; | ||
3. When the body or a body part of a person is found and | ||
either: | ||
(A) the person is identified but [ |
||
circumstances of death are unknown[ |
||
[ |
||
(B) the person is unidentified, regardless of | ||
whether the cause or circumstances of death are known; | ||
4. When the circumstances of the death of any person | ||
are such as to lead to suspicion that he came to his death by | ||
unlawful means; | ||
5. When any person commits suicide, or the | ||
circumstances of his death are such as to lead to suspicion that he | ||
committed suicide; | ||
6. When a person dies without having been attended by a | ||
duly licensed and practicing physician, and the local health | ||
officer or registrar required to report the cause of death under | ||
Section 193.005, Health and Safety Code, does not know the cause of | ||
death. When the local health officer or registrar of vital | ||
statistics whose duty it is to certify the cause of death does not | ||
know the cause of death, he shall so notify the medical examiner of | ||
the county in which the death occurred and request an inquest; | ||
7. When the person is a child who is younger than six | ||
years of age and the death is reported under Chapter 264, Family | ||
Code; and | ||
8. When a person dies who has been attended | ||
immediately preceding his death by a duly licensed and practicing | ||
physician or physicians, and such physician or physicians are not | ||
certain as to the cause of death and are unable to certify with | ||
certainty the cause of death as required by Section 193.004, Health | ||
and Safety Code. In case of such uncertainty the attending | ||
physician or physicians, or the superintendent or general manager | ||
of the hospital or institution in which the deceased shall have | ||
died, shall so report to the medical examiner of the county in which | ||
the death occurred, and request an inquest. | ||
SECTION 4. Articles 49.01, 49.04, and 49.25, Code of | ||
Criminal Procedure, as amended by this Act, apply only to an | ||
investigation of a death of an unidentified person that commences | ||
on or after the effective date of this Act. An investigation of the | ||
death of an unidentified person 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. | ||
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |