By Greenberg                                          H.B. No. 2654
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to termination of parental rights based on inability to
    1-3  care for a child.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Chapter 15, Family Code, is amended to read as
    1-6  follows:
    1-7        Sec. 15.024.  Involuntary Termination:  Inability to Care for
    1-8  Child.  (a)  A petition by the Texas Department of <Human>
    1-9  Protective and Regulatory Services requesting termination of the
   1-10  parent-child relationship with respect to a parent who is not the
   1-11  petitioner may be granted if the court finds that:
   1-12              (1)  the department has been the managing conservator
   1-13  of the child under any chapter of this title for one year, or there
   1-14  is a history of previous out-of-home placement or placements of
   1-15  this child, or a history of neglect, abuse or lack of care of other
   1-16  children by this parent, and the parent has failed to maintain
   1-17  other than incidental contact with and to provide for or
   1-18  substantially plan for the future of the child; and the termination
   1-19  is in the best interest of the child; or
   1-20              <(1)> (2)  the parent has a mental or emotional illness
   1-21  or a mental deficiency that renders the parent unable to provide
   1-22  for the physical, emotional, and mental needs of the child, and the
   1-23  illness or deficiency, in all reasonable probability, proved by
    2-1  clear and convincing evidence, renders the parent unable to provide
    2-2  for those needs from the time of the court's finding until the 18th
    2-3  birthday of the child;
    2-4              <(2)> (3)   the department has been the <permanent>
    2-5  managing conservator of the child of the parent under any chapter
    2-6  of this title for the six months preceding the filing of the
    2-7  petition; and
    2-8              <(3)> (4)  the termination is in the best interest of
    2-9  the child.
   2-10        (b)  Immediately after the filing of a petition for
   2-11  termination of the parent-child relationship under <this> section
   2-12  (2), the court shall appoint an attorney ad litem to represent the
   2-13  interest of the parent against whom the suit is brought.
   2-14        (c)  A hearing on the petition under Subsection (b) on the
   2-15  issue of termination may not be held earlier than 180 days after
   2-16  the date on which the petition was filed.
   2-17        (d)  An attorney appointed under Subsection (b) of this
   2-18  section shall represent the parent for the duration of the suit
   2-19  unless the parent, with the permission of the court, retains
   2-20  another attorney.
   2-21        SECTION 2.  This Act applies to a petition by the Department
   2-22  of Protective and Regulatory Services requesting termination of the
   2-23  parent-child relationship if the department has been the permanent
   2-24  managing conservator of the child for at least 12 months preceding
   2-25  the filing of the petition, regardless of whether the department
    3-1  was appointed conservator before or is appointed conservator on or
    3-2  after the effective date of this Act.
    3-3        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-4  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-5  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-6  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-7  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-8  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-9  passage, and it is so enacted.