By:  Zaffirini                                         S.B. No. 277
       73R1642 MLR-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to reporting a finding of paternity to the State Registrar
    1-3  of Vital Statistics.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Chapter 192, Health and Safety Code, is amended
    1-6  by adding Section 192.0051 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 192.0051.  CERTIFICATE OF PATERNITY.  (a)  A declaration
    1-8  of each determination of paternity in this state shall be filed
    1-9  with the state registrar.
   1-10        (b)  On a determination of paternity, the petitioner shall
   1-11  provide the clerk of the court in which the decree was granted with
   1-12  the information necessary to prepare the  declaration.  The clerk
   1-13  shall:
   1-14              (1)  prepare the declaration on a form provided by the
   1-15  department; and
   1-16              (2)  complete the declaration immediately after the
   1-17  decree becomes final.
   1-18        (c)  Not later than the 10th day of each month, the clerk of
   1-19  the court shall forward to the state registrar a declaration for
   1-20  each decree that became final in that court during the preceding
   1-21  month.
   1-22        SECTION 2.  Section 13.43, Family Code, is amended to read as
   1-23  follows:
   1-24        Sec. 13.43.  BIRTH CERTIFICATE.  (a)  A declaration of each
    2-1  determination of paternity decreed in this state shall be filed
    2-2  with the state registrar.
    2-3        (b)  On a determination of paternity, the petitioner shall
    2-4  provide the clerk of the court in which the decree was granted with
    2-5  the information necessary to prepare the declaration.  The clerk
    2-6  shall:
    2-7              (1)  prepare the declaration on a form provided by the
    2-8  Texas Department of Health; and
    2-9              (2)  complete the declaration immediately after the
   2-10  decree becomes final.
   2-11        (c)  Not later than the 10th day of each month, the clerk of
   2-12  the court shall forward to the state registrar a declaration for
   2-13  each decree that became final in that court during the preceding
   2-14  month.  <On a determination of paternity, the clerk of the court,
   2-15  unless directed otherwise by the court, shall transmit a copy of
   2-16  the decree to the State Registrar of Vital Statistics.>
   2-17        (d)  The decree shall state the name of the child.
   2-18        (e)  The state registrar shall substitute for the original a
   2-19  new birth certificate based on the decree in accordance with the
   2-20  provisions of the laws which permit the correction or substitution
   2-21  of birth certificates for adopted children or children presumed to
   2-22  be the biological children by the subsequent marriage of their
   2-23  parents and in accordance with the rules  adopted <and regulations
   2-24  promulgated> by the Texas Board <State Department> of Health.
   2-25        (f)  The new certificate may not show that the father and
   2-26  child relationship was established after the child's birth but may
   2-27  show the actual place and date of birth.
    3-1        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
    3-2        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-3  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-4  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
    3-5  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-6  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.