By Greenberg                                          H.B. No. 1107
       74R1701 MJW-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to preparation and distribution by the Department of
    1-3  Protective and Regulatory Services of an adoption information form.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 16, Family Code, is amended
    1-6  by adding Section 16.13 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 16.13.  INFORMATION REGARDING RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF
    1-8  CERTAIN PARTIES TO AN ADOPTION.  (a)  The Department of Protective
    1-9  and Regulatory Services shall prepare a form outlining the legal
   1-10  rights and obligations of a person who is:
   1-11              (1)  terminating the person's parental rights and
   1-12  placing a child for adoption; or
   1-13              (2)  petitioning for the adoption of a child.
   1-14        (b)  The department shall update the form as necessary to
   1-15  reflect changes in the law.
   1-16        (c)  The department shall distribute the form to:
   1-17              (1)  a governmental entity or private entity routinely
   1-18  involved in the placement of children for adoption; and
   1-19              (2)  each court in the state that hears adoption cases.
   1-20        (d)  An entity that receives the adoption information form
   1-21  under Subsection (c)(1) shall distribute a copy of the form to each
   1-22  party to an adoption in which the entity is involved.
   1-23        (e)  A court that receives the adoption information form
   1-24  under Subsection (c)(2) shall inquire of the parties to an adoption
    2-1  suit whether each party has received a copy of the form and shall
    2-2  distribute the form to a party who has not previously received it.
    2-3        SECTION 2.  The Department of Protective and Regulatory
    2-4  Services shall prepare and distribute the adoption information form
    2-5  required by Section 16.13, Family Code, as added by this Act not
    2-6  later than January 1, 1996.
    2-7        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
    2-8        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    2-9  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-10  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-11  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-12  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.