HB 488 — An Act amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in offenses against the family, further providing for the offense of endangering welfare of children.

PRIOR PRINTER'S NO.

451 THEPRINTER'S GENERALNO. ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE BILL Session of No.

4882239 2021THE INTRODUCEDGENERAL BYASSEMBLY BOBACK,OF MILLARD,PENNSYLVANIA STAATS,HOUSE RYAN,BILL METCALFE,Session HOWARD, HELM, CONKLIN, TOOHIL, SCHLEGEL CULVER, NEILSON, JAMES, GAYDOS, CIRESI AND GILLEN, FEBRUARY 9, 2021 REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, FEBRUARY 9, 2021 AN ACT Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of theNo. Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in offenses against the family, further providing for the offense of endangering welfare of children.

488 2021 INTRODUCED BY BOBACK, MILLARD, STAATS, RYAN, METCALFE, HOWARD, HELM, CONKLIN, TOOHIL, SCHLEGEL CULVER, NEILSON, JAMES, GAYDOS, CIRESI, GILLEN AND MIZGORSKI, FEBRUARY 9, 2021 AS AMENDED ON SECOND CONSIDERATION, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, OCTOBER 5, 2021 AN ACT Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, in offenses against the family, further providing for the offense of endangering welfare of children.

(a) Offense defined.-- (1) A parent,parent[, guardianguardian] or other person supervising the <-- welfare of a child under 18 years of age, or a person that employs or supervises [such a] the person, commits an offense if [he] the parent, guardian or other person knowingly <-- endangers the welfare of the child by violating a duty of care, protection or support.

[(3) As used in this subsection, the term "person supervising the welfare of a child" means a person other than a parent or guardian that provides care, education, training or control of a child.] (4) A parent, guardian or other person supervising the <-- welfare of a child under 18 years of age commits an offense if the parent, guardian or other person, with reckless <-- disregard for the risk of harm to the child or for the health, safety or welfare of the child, fails to report the disappearance of the child to a law enforcement agency.

(2) The grading of an offense under this section shall be increased one grade if, at the time of the commission of 20210HB0488PN045120210HB0488PN2239 - 2 - the offense, the child was under six years of age.

"Disappearance." An instance in which a parent, guardian or <-- other person supervising the welfare of a child under 18 years of age does not know the whereabouts of the child for more than 24 hours.

"PARENT." A NATURAL PARENT, STEPPARENT, ADOPTIVE PARENT OR <-- GUARDIAN OF A CHILD.

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