By Rodriguez                                          H.B. No. 2127
       74R7632 MJW-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to adoption of a child by a foster parent.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 16.08(a), Family Code, is amended to read
    1-5  as follows:
    1-6        (a)  If the court is satisfied that the requirements for
    1-7  adoption have been met and the adoption is in the best interest of
    1-8  the child, the court shall make a decree granting the adoption,
    1-9  reciting the findings pertaining to the court's jurisdiction.
   1-10  There is a rebuttable presumption that adoption of a child by a
   1-11  petitioner who has cared for the child in foster home care is in
   1-12  the best interest of the child.
   1-13        SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies to
   1-14  disposition of a petition for adoption of a child without regard to
   1-15  whether the petition is filed before, on, or after the effective
   1-16  date of this Act.
   1-17        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   1-18        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.