By Harris                                              S.B. No. 788
       74R4547 MJW-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to registration for notice of a suit affecting the
    1-3  parent-child relationship by a man who suspects that he is the
    1-4  child's father.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Section 11.09, Family Code, is amended by
    1-7  amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (g) to read as
    1-8  follows:
    1-9        (a)  Except as provided in Subsection (b) of this section,
   1-10  the following persons are entitled to service of citation on the
   1-11  filing of a petition in a suit affecting the parent-child
   1-12  relationship:
   1-13              (1)  the managing conservator, if any;
   1-14              (2)  possessory conservators, if any;
   1-15              (3)  persons, if any, having access to the child under
   1-16  an order of the court;
   1-17              (4)  persons, if any, required by law or by order of a
   1-18  court to provide for the support of a child;
   1-19              (5)  the guardian of the person of the child, if any;
   1-20              (6)  the guardian of the estate of the child, if any;
   1-21              (7)  each parent as to whom the parent-child
   1-22  relationship has not been terminated or process has not been waived
   1-23  under Section 15.03(c)(2) of this code; <and>
   1-24              (8)  the alleged father or probable father, unless
    2-1  there is attached to the petition an affidavit of waiver of
    2-2  interest in a child executed by the alleged father or probable
    2-3  father as provided in Section 15.041 of this code; and
    2-4              (9)  a man who has registered with the clerk of the
    2-5  court in which the suit is filed under Subsection (g) of this
    2-6  section.
    2-7        (g)  A man who suspects that he is a child's father may
    2-8  register with the clerk of a court of this state in which a suit
    2-9  affecting the parent-child relationship may be brought concerning
   2-10  that child.  A clerk with whom a man registers under this
   2-11  subsection shall notify a person filing a suit affecting the
   2-12  parent-child relationship concerning the child named in the man's
   2-13  registration information that the person must provide the man with
   2-14  service of citation in the suit.  A man registering under this
   2-15  section must provide to the clerk his own name and mailing address,
   2-16  the name and mailing address, if the mailing address is known, of
   2-17  the child's mother, and the name and probable date of birth of the
   2-18  child, if known.  A clerk is not responsible for providing the
   2-19  notification required by this subsection if the clerk is unable to
   2-20  determine the child's identity from the information provided.
   2-21        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-22  applies only to notice of a suit affecting the parent-child
   2-23  relationship that is filed on or after that date.  A suit filed
   2-24  before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law in
   2-25  effect when the suit was filed, and the former law is continued in
   2-26  effect for that purpose.
   2-27        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-1  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-2  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-3  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-4  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.