Abandoned Baby Bill
After serving 10 years in the Texas House of Representatives, Bob entered into private practice in Austin, Texas representing clients before executive and legislative agencies. He also practiced family law. In late 1988, lobbying and family law came together when Judge Debbie Richardson of Travis County stopped him in the courthouse and asked if he would help her uncle Dr. John Richardson, a respected Fort Worth pediatrician.
Dr. Richardson had heard of a program in Seattle, Washington that was intended to reduce the number of "dumpster babies", babies left by mothers who did not want to care for them shortly after birth. The program would give mothers the alternative of leaving the babies at a fire station of other facility that could provide emergency treatment for the child.
Bill Passes Legislature
Bob researched the issue and discovered that, although it had been discussed in Seattle, there was no program like that in any state. Almost two months into the 1999 legislative session, he drafted a bill and recruited Geanie Morrison, a House member from Victoria, to carry it. Rep. Morrison introduced H.B. 3423 and passed it out of the House on April 29th of that year. Senator Jane Nelson sponsored the bill in the Senate and it was passed on May 20 and signed by then-Governor George Bush on June 19, 1999, just a few months before Gov. Bush was elected President.
What does it do?
The new law required licensed emergency medical services providers to take possession of a child less than 30 days old if voluntarily delivered by a parent who did not express an intent to return for the child. The emergency medical services provider was ordered to take any actions necessary to protect the child's health and safety and was also ordered to report the abandonment to the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services within one business day.
Under the new law, the parent could not be prosecuted for child abandonment.
Although there were fears that this bill would lead to many child abandonments and parents forsaking their parental duties, that has not happened. Although no direct statistics are kept, there have been 19 children documented as having been left under this statute, seven of them since the Christmas holidays in 2003. Obviously, there will be more as the law becomes better known.
Nationwide significance
This bill was a landmark piece of legislation that had never been tried. After Texas passed this, however, some 44 other states have enacted similar legislation.
For further Information on the Baby Moses Project that was started after the bill passed, see The Baby Moses Project Link.
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