Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas Urges Governor Perry to Veto SB 1440

Statewide caucus expresses alarm that a “last minute” amendment attempts to overturn legal precedents and constitutional rights

AUSTIN, TX – The Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas (RLC-TX) calls on Governor Rick Perry to veto SB-1440 as an abuse of administrative authority that dangerously erodes due process and constitutional rights accorded to our citizens and the family.

The last minute amendment to SB-1440 strips away due process and Fourth Amendment protections by granting Child Protective Services (CPS) the power to access the medical and mental health records of a child and to access and transport that child for interrogation and even strip searches without parental notification or a court hearing. CPS may obtain this order without establishing probable cause or even “for good cause shown” which is the present standard applied AFTER notice to the parents and the holding of a hearing before a Judge which includes the participation of parents. Current law already provides Child Protective Services (CPS) with powers for the emergency removal of a child in cases of obvious and provable abuse, which the RLC-TX supports.

“Due process is a key tenant of our nation’s constitutional governance. It is alarming to me that Texas legislators would even consider a law that grants powers of unreasonable search and seizure to state administrative authorities that include custodial intervention, physical examination and the interrogation of a child without probably cause simply to “build a case” when their investigative findings are not sufficient to follow the normal deliberative process,” L. Pierre de Rochemont said. “This lays the foundation for bringing “witch hunts” into the legal mainstream.”

The RLC-TX asks the Governor to consider recent rulings by the Texas Supreme Court and the 5th Court of Appeals that struck down a similar overreach of CPS authority in Gary W. Gates et al. v. Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services et. al.

“While no one wants to promulgate or permit child abuse, it is important that our society clearly recognize that unwarranted state intimidation is also traumatic to the family and a child’s wellbeing,” Mr. de Rochemont went on to say. “Backroom political wheelings and dealings in the dead of night never lead to sound or just law.”

The objectionable language contained in SB 1440 was originally filed by Senator Kirk Watson (Democrat-Austin, Travis County-part) as SB 1064, which did not make passage, and was later re-introduced as an amendment to SB 1440 by Representative Patrick Rose (Democrat-Dripping Springs for Blanco, Caldwell, and Hays Counties) at the very end of the legislative session. The dubious manner in which the amendment was introduced into an innocuous bill misrepresents legislative support that clearly did not advance its extreme provisions.

More information regarding the history of SB 1440 can be found at http://www.rightintexas.com/2009/06/giving-cps-blank-check.