Molly Jane’s Law
became law in the state of Texas on September 1, 2019. Molly Jane’s Law states that when law enforcement in the state of Texas investigates a case of sexual assault they shall use ViCAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) to input information about the reported offender and nature/details of the offense.
How a bill becomes a law…
The process all began with a phone call to Representative Craig Goldman. I told him very simply, “We need to write a law.” His answer was immediate and straight forward, “Got it Tracy, we will get to work on this immediately and will report back to you.”
Fast forward to early 2019 and the 86th legislative session in Texas is just about to begin. I met with Craig and his staff to review an early draft of what would eventually become HB 3106. They asked for my input and even made use of some of my suggested edits.
Once the legislative session officially started, it became a game of endurance and patience testing. I quickly learned things do not happen fast in Austin, nor are there any guarantees they will even happen at all. I was told more than once to not get my hopes up, as it is not at all unusual for a bill to not get passed much less get a hearing on its first time through. This did not sit well with me because the Texas legislature only meets every two years; I did not have two more years to wait for another try.
Amazingly, the bill got a hearing in the Homeland Security Committee on April 10, 2019…the second anniversary of Molly Jane’s murder. I was in Austin to testify in front of the committee and could not imagine anywhere else I would rather be on that day. HB 3106 was unanimously passed out of the Homeland Security Committee on the same day of the hearing…a rare occurrence I am told.
Next stop was the House floor for a vote. I was back in Austin for this as well. As Representative Goldman read the bill aloud, his fellow Representatives got out of their seat to come and stand beside him. Both sides of the aisle. It was an incredible sight to witness overwhelming, bipartisan support in such a powerful display. It was voted off the House floor with not a single vote of nay. Next stop…the Senate.
In record time we received a hearing in the Criminal Justice Committee in the Senate. Senator Joan Huffman had signed on as Senate sponsor, and she sits on this committee as well. Back to Austin I traveled to testify. Once again it was voted out of committee on the same day. Soon, HB 3106 was heard on the Senate floor and was unanimously voted out of the Senate.
HB 3106 had to return to the House floor for one more vote because the Senate made a small tweak…an improvement actually. Second time in the House was every bit as successful. We had a near flawless experience every step of the way of this process. There were two votes of nay on the House floor on the second vote. But that was nowhere near enough to stop it from going to the Governor’s desk.
May 29, 2019, Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 3106, and it became known as Molly Jane’s Law in the state of Texas, effective September 1, 2019.
Molly Jane’s Law allows law enforcement agencies in Texas to communicate with one another through the use of ViCAP, which is administered by the FBI. ViCAP was created to help identify serial murderers and rapists and is available in all 50 states and has been in use since the mid 1980s. When law enforcement uses ViCAP they will be better able to connect dots between offenses across Texas, and maybe even other states. Molly Jane’s Law facilitates the identification of patterns of offense so that law enforcement can act decisively before an offender rapes again or their pattern escalates.
There has already been success with the use of ViCAP. You can read about it here.
A photo montage of Molly Jane’s Law
