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.