By Moncrief S.B. No. 49
Substitute the following for S.B. No. 49:
By Naishtat C.S.S.B. No. 49
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the offense of the unauthorized placement of a child
1-3 for adoption.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 162, Family Code, as added
1-6 by House Bill 655, Acts of the 74th Legislature, Regular Session,
1-7 1995, is amended by adding Section 162.025 to read as follows:
1-8 Sec. 162.025. PLACEMENT BY UNAUTHORIZED PERSON; OFFENSE. A
1-9 person who is not the natural or adoptive parent of the child, the
1-10 legal guardian of the child, or a child-placing agency licensed
1-11 under Chapter 42, Human Resources Code, commits an offense if the
1-12 person:
1-13 (1) serves as an intermediary between a prospective
1-14 adoptive parent and an expectant parent or parent of a minor child
1-15 to identify the parties to each other or facilitates the placement
1-16 of the child for adoption; or
1-17 (2) places a child for adoption.
1-18 (b) It is not an offense under this section if a
1-19 professional provides legal or medical services to:
1-20 (1) a parent who identifies the prospective adoptive
1-21 parent and places the child for adoption without the assistance of
1-22 the professional; or
1-23 (2) a prospective adoptive parent who identifies a
1-24 parent and receives placement of a child for adoption without
2-1 assistance of the professional.
2-2 (c) An offense under this section is a Class B misdemeanor.
2-3 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
2-4 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-5 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-6 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-7 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-8 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-9 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-10 passage, and it is so enacted.