By:  Zaffirini                                        S.B. No. 1260
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the involuntary termination of the parent-child
    1-2  relationship.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 15.024, Family Code, is amended to read
    1-5  as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 15.024.  INVOLUNTARY TERMINATION:  INABILITY OR FAILURE
    1-7  TO CARE FOR CHILD.  (a)  A petition by the Texas Department of
    1-8  Protective and Regulatory <Human> Services requesting termination
    1-9  of the parent-child relationship with respect to a parent who is
   1-10  not the petitioner may be granted if the court finds that:
   1-11              (1)(A)  the department has been the managing
   1-12  conservator of the child under any chapter of this title for one
   1-13  year preceding the filing of the petition, there is a history of
   1-14  previous out-of-home placement or placements of the child, or there
   1-15  is a history of neglect, abuse, or lack of care of other children
   1-16  by the parent;
   1-17                    (B)  the parent has failed to maintain contact
   1-18  other than incidental contact with the child and has failed to
   1-19  provide for or substantially plan for the future of the child; and
   1-20                    (C)  the termination is in the best interest of
   1-21  the child; or
   1-22              (2)(A)  the parent has a mental or emotional illness or
   1-23  a mental deficiency that renders the parent unable to provide for
    2-1  the physical, emotional, and mental needs of the child, and the
    2-2  illness or deficiency, in all reasonable probability, proved by
    2-3  clear and convincing evidence, renders the parent unable to provide
    2-4  for those needs from the time of the court's finding until the 18th
    2-5  birthday of the child;
    2-6                    (B) <(2)>  the department has been the
    2-7  <permanent> managing conservator of the child of the parent under
    2-8  any chapter of this title for the six months preceding the filing
    2-9  of the petition; and
   2-10                    (C) <(3)>  the termination is in the best
   2-11  interest of the child.
   2-12        (b)  Immediately after the filing of a petition for
   2-13  termination of the parent-child relationship under Subsection
   2-14  (a)(2) of this section, the court shall appoint an attorney ad
   2-15  litem to represent the interests of the parent against whom the
   2-16  suit is brought.
   2-17        (c)  A hearing on the petition under Subsection (a)(2) of
   2-18  this section on the issue of termination may not be held earlier
   2-19  than 180 days after the date on which the petition was filed.
   2-20        (d)  An attorney appointed under Subsection (b) of this
   2-21  section shall represent the parent for the duration of the suit
   2-22  unless the parent, with the permission of the court, retains
   2-23  another attorney.
   2-24        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-25  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-1  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-2  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-3  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
    3-4  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-5  passage, and it is so enacted.