By: Hill, F. H.B. No. 2159
73R1378 JMM-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the requirement that a possessory conservator pay the
1-3 travel expenses incurred to facilitate possession of the possessory
1-4 conservator's child.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Section 14.033(g), Family Code, is amended to
1-7 read as follows:
1-8 (g) General Terms and Conditions. Except as otherwise
1-9 explicitly provided, terms and conditions of possession of a child
1-10 that apply irrespective of the distance between the residence of a
1-11 parent and the child are as follows:
1-12 (1) the managing conservator shall surrender the child
1-13 to the possessory conservator at the beginning of each period of
1-14 the possessory conservator's possession at the residence of the
1-15 managing conservator;
1-16 (2) the possessory conservator shall be ordered to do
1-17 one of the following: the possessory conservator shall surrender
1-18 the child to the managing conservator at the end of each period of
1-19 possession at the residence of the possessory conservator; or, in
1-20 the alternative, the possessory conservator shall return the child
1-21 to the residence of the managing conservator at the end of each
1-22 period of possession;
1-23 (3) each conservator shall return with the child the
1-24 personal effects that the child brought at the beginning of the
2-1 period of possession;
2-2 (4) either parent may designate any competent adult to
2-3 pick up and return the child, as applicable; a parent or a
2-4 designated competent adult shall be present when the child is
2-5 picked up or returned;
2-6 (5) a parent shall give notice to the person in
2-7 possession of the child on each occasion that the parent will be
2-8 unable to exercise that parent's right of possession for any
2-9 specified period; repeated failure of a parent to give notice of an
2-10 inability to exercise possessory rights may be considered as a
2-11 factor in a modification of those possessory rights;
2-12 (6) written notice shall be deemed to have been timely
2-13 made if received or postmarked before or at the time that notice is
2-14 due; <and>
2-15 (7) if a conservator's time of possession of a child
2-16 ends at the time school resumes and for any reason the child is not
2-17 or will not be returned to school, the conservator in possession of
2-18 the child shall immediately notify the school and the other
2-19 conservator that the child will not be or has not been returned to
2-20 school; and
2-21 (8) the possessory conservator shall be responsible
2-22 for payment of travel expenses as provided by Section 14.063 of
2-23 this code.
2-24 SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 14, Family Code, is amended
2-25 by adding Section 14.063 to read as follows:
2-26 Sec. 14.063. TRAVEL EXPENSES. (a) In any suit affecting
2-27 the parent-child relationship or reciprocal child support action
3-1 under Chapter 21 of this code, a court shall order that the
3-2 possessory conservator pay the reasonable travel expenses of the
3-3 child incurred by the managing conservator or possessory
3-4 conservator to facilitate the possessory conservator's right to
3-5 possess the child.
3-6 (b) Any amount that an obligor is required to pay for travel
3-7 expenses under this section is in addition to the amount that the
3-8 obligor is required to pay for child support, is a child support
3-9 obligation, and may be enforced as a child support obligation.
3-10 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
3-11 applies only to a child support order or portion of a decree
3-12 providing for the support of a child that is entered on or after
3-13 that date.
3-14 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.