Enrolled Bill Summary

            House Bill 1878 amends provisions of the Family Code, Health and Safety Code, and Labor Code relating to establishing paternity, the enforcement of child support and medical support for a child, certain proceedings, papers, and orders being open to public inspection, and compliance with federal regulatory requirements. The bill specifies proceedings in which a court is required to render an order for medical support for a child and clarifies the liability of a parent ordered to pay additional child support to cover the cost of health insurance. House Bill 1878 requires a valid acknowledgment of paternity executed by certain fathers before items on a birth certificate relating to the father may be completed and provides that a presumption of paternity may be rebutted by the filing of a valid denial of paternity. The bill provides that proceedings under the Uniform Parentage Act are open, rather than closed, to the public as in other civil cases and authorizes the public inspection of records in those proceedings, as well as the final order adjudicating parentage. It includes provisions relating to a court rendering a new cumulative judgment to reflect changes in certain federal income tax filings, the authority of a Title IV-D agency to vacate or stay an order suspending various professional licenses, prohibitions on a child support lien being directed at an employer to attach to certain disposable earnings, compliance with a lien by financial institutions with headquarters based in another state, and withholding for child support obligations from workers' compensation benefits.