1-1 By: Greenberg (Senate Sponsor - Moncrief) H.B. No. 1109 1-2 (In the Senate - Received from the House May 15, 1995; 1-3 May 16, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on Health 1-4 and Human Services; May 19, 1995, reported favorably by the 1-5 following vote: Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 19, 1995, sent to printer.) 1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-7 AN ACT 1-8 relating to a mandatory study into the circumstances and condition 1-9 of the home of a person seeking to adopt a child. 1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-11 SECTION 1. Section 162.003, Family Code, as added by H.B. 1-12 655, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session, 1995, is 1-13 amended to read as follows: 1-14 Sec. 162.003. SOCIAL STUDY. (a) In a suit for adoption, 1-15 including a suit in which a private agency or individual is 1-16 responsible for placing the child for adoption, the court shall 1-17 order a social study as provided in Chapter 107. 1-18 (b) The social study required by this section must include a 1-19 complete investigation of the circumstances and condition of the 1-20 home of a person petitioning for the adoption of a child under this 1-21 chapter. 1-22 (c) The court shall order that the cost of the social study 1-23 be paid by the person seeking to adopt the child who is the subject 1-24 of the social study. 1-25 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and 1-26 applies only to a social study ordered by a court under Section 1-27 162.003, Family Code, as amended by this Act, on or after the 1-28 effective date of this Act in a suit affecting the parent-child 1-29 relationship in which an adoption is sought, without regard to 1-30 whether the suit is filed before, on, or after the effective date 1-31 of this Act. 1-32 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 1-33 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-34 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-35 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-36 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended. 1-37 * * * * *