PMWJ H.B. 1880 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS JUDICIAL AFFAIRS H.B. 1880 By: Thompson 3-26-97 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND In the last 15 years, federal laws, international treaties and state legislation have provided numerous tools to enforce child support, custody and visitation rights. Still, parents and relatives who cannot abide by court orders too often resort to extrajudicial child abduction, imposing ruinous emotional damage upon the abducted children and ruinous financial damage upon the legal custodians and conservators who fight back. New state laws and services can ease the financial and emotional burdens placed upon parents and their abducted children, speeding the return of children and deterring future abductors. The Judicial Affairs Committee, in the interim, studied parental kidnapping and made a recommendation, suggested by the Attorney General's office, which would require some time to arrange the diplomatic negotiations and passage of corresponding statutes to implement, to allow the Attorney General's office to negotiate with other nations regarding the enforcement of child support and custody orders. PURPOSE The purpose of this bill is to allow the Attorney General's office to pursue negotiations for reciprocal agreements with other nations and jurisdictions regarding the enforcement of child support and custody orders. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1 amends Section 231.002(a), Family Code, creating a new subsection (5) which allows the Attorney General's office to pursue negotiations and enter into agreements with other nations or their political subdivisions to provide for the international establishment and enforcement of child support and child custody orders. SECTION 2. Emergency clause. Effective date.