By: Zaffirini S.B. No. 277
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
1-1 relating to reporting a finding of paternity to the State Registrar
1-2 of Vital Statistics.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 192, Health and Safety
1-5 Code, is amended by adding Section 192.0051 to read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 192.0051. CERTIFICATE OF PATERNITY. (a) A declaration
1-7 of each determination of paternity in this state shall be filed
1-8 with the state registrar.
1-9 (b) On a determination of paternity, the petitioner shall
1-10 provide the clerk of the court in which the decree was granted with
1-11 the information necessary to prepare the declaration. The clerk
1-12 shall:
1-13 (1) prepare the declaration on a form provided by the
1-14 department; and
1-15 (2) complete the declaration immediately after the
1-16 decree becomes final.
1-17 (c) Not later than the 10th day of each month, the clerk of
1-18 the court shall forward to the state registrar a declaration for
1-19 each decree that became final in that court during the preceding
1-20 month.
1-21 SECTION 2. Section 13.43, Family Code, is amended to read as
1-22 follows:
1-23 Sec. 13.43. BIRTH CERTIFICATE. (a) A declaration of each
1-24 determination of paternity decreed in this state shall be filed
2-1 with the state registrar.
2-2 (b) On a determination of paternity, the petitioner shall
2-3 provide the clerk of the court in which the decree was granted with
2-4 the information necessary to prepare the declaration. The clerk
2-5 shall:
2-6 (1) prepare the declaration on a form provided by the
2-7 Texas Department of Health; and
2-8 (2) complete the declaration immediately after the
2-9 decree becomes final.
2-10 (c) Not later than the 10th day of each month, the clerk of
2-11 the court shall forward to the state registrar a declaration for
2-12 each decree that became final in that court during the preceding
2-13 month <On a determination of paternity, the clerk of the court,
2-14 unless directed otherwise by the court, shall transmit a copy of
2-15 the decree to the State Registrar of Vital Statistics>.
2-16 (d) The decree shall state the name of the child.
2-17 (e) The state registrar shall substitute for the original a
2-18 new birth certificate based on the decree in accordance with the
2-19 provisions of the laws which permit the correction or substitution
2-20 of birth certificates for adopted children or children presumed to
2-21 be the biological children by the subsequent marriage of their
2-22 parents and in accordance with the rules adopted <and regulations
2-23 promulgated> by the Texas Board <State Department> of Health.
2-24 (f) The new certificate may not show that the father and
2-25 child relationship was established after the child's birth but may
2-26 show the actual place and date of birth.
2-27 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
3-1 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-2 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-3 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-4 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
3-5 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.