BILL ANALYSIS C.S.S.B. 121 By: Harris Jurisprudence 2-14-95 Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND A biological father is often not identified in birth or other hospital records. Identifying a biological father early often makes it easier to establish child support orders. PURPOSE As proposed, C.S.S.B. 121 establishes a program to increase voluntary paternity acknowledgement at a hospital birth. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 192.003, Health and Safety Code, by amending Subsections (d)-(f) as follows: (e) Requires a person listed by Subsection (a) or (b) who is responsible for filing the birth certificate, if the child's parents are not married, to provide an opportunity for the child's mother and biological father to sign the birth certificate or a form in which the biological father consents to be named as the child's father on the birth certificate, and to provide information about establishing paternity, including an explanation of the rights and responsibilities of acknowledging paternity and information about the availability of child support services, to the child's mother and the father, if present. Deletes existing Subsection (d), setting forth specific individuals responsible for providing the opportunity to establish paternity or information about doing so. (f)-(g) Redesignate existing Subsections (e) and (f). SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 1995. Makes application of this Act prospective. SECTION 3. Emergency clause.