By:  Goodman                                          H.B. No. 1140
       73R3095 MJW-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the authority of a possessory conservator to consent to
    1-3  medical treatment of a child.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 14.04(a), Family Code, is amended to read
    1-6  as follows:
    1-7        (a)  A possessory conservator has the following rights,
    1-8  privileges, duties, and powers during the period of possession,
    1-9  subject to any limitations expressed in the decree:
   1-10              (1)  the duty of care, control, protection, and
   1-11  reasonable discipline of the child;
   1-12              (2)  the duty to provide the child with clothing, food,
   1-13  and shelter; and
   1-14              (3)  the power to consent to medical <and surgical>
   1-15  treatment at any time during the period of possession and to
   1-16  surgical treatment during an emergency involving an immediate
   1-17  danger to the health and safety of the child.
   1-18        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-23  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-24  passage, and it is so enacted.