Bill Text: TX HB3121 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Relating to an interim study of suits affecting the parent-child relationship in cases involving abuse and other harmful conduct engaged in by a party.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-05-03 - Comm. report sent to Local & Consent Calendar [HB3121 Detail]

Download: Texas-2019-HB3121-Comm_Sub.html

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86R25628 JSC-F
By: Bowers H.B. No. 3121
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 3121:
By: Dutton C.S.H.B. No. 3121

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to an interim study of suits affecting the parent-child
relationship in cases involving abuse and other harmful conduct
engaged in by a party.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. (a) Pursuant to Section 111.001, Family Code,
the standing committees of each house of the legislature having
jurisdiction over family law issues shall jointly study and
recommend revisions to the provisions of Chapter 153, Family Code,
regarding the manner in which the courts of this state, in rendering
an order for conservatorship and possession of and access to a
child, provide for the safety and best interest of the child. The
study must:
(1) focus on cases in which a party has engaged in:
(A) family violence or dating violence, as those
terms are defined by Chapter 71, Family Code;
(B) abuse or neglect, as those terms are defined
by Section 261.001, Family Code; or
(C) conduct constituting offenses under Sections
21.02, 22.011, 22.021 and 25.02, Penal Code; and
(2) include:
(A) the impact of a history of conduct described
by Subdivision (1) on a child; and
(B) the effects on the courts' considerations of
conduct described by Subdivision (1) in the appointment of joint
managing conservators, sole managing conservators, and possessory
conservators in suits affecting the parent-child relationship.
(b) Not later than December 1, 2020, the committees
described by Subsection (a) shall jointly submit a report of the
study's results to the governor, the lieutenant governor, the
speaker of the house of representatives, and members of the
legislature. The report must include recommendations for changes
to the relevant statutes.
SECTION 2. This Act expires September 1, 2021.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2019.