By Corte                                                H.B. No. 28

      75R47 JMM-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to parental rights and duties.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 151.003(a), Family Code, is amended to

 1-5     read as follows:

 1-6           (a)  A parent of a child has the following rights and duties:

 1-7                 (1)  the right to have physical possession, to direct

 1-8     the moral and religious training, and to establish the residence of

 1-9     the child;

1-10                 (2)  the duty of care, control, protection, and

1-11     reasonable discipline of the child;

1-12                 (3)  the duty to support the child, including providing

1-13     the child with clothing, food, shelter, medical and dental care,

1-14     and education;

1-15                 (4)  the duty, except when a guardian of the child's

1-16     estate has been appointed, to manage the estate of the child,

1-17     including the right as an agent of the child to act in relation to

1-18     the child's estate if the child's action is required by a state,

1-19     the United States, or a foreign government;

1-20                 (5)  the right to the services and earnings of the

1-21     child;

1-22                 (6)  the right to consent to the child's marriage,

1-23     enlistment in the armed forces of the United States, medical and

1-24     dental care, and psychiatric, psychological, and surgical

 2-1     treatment;

 2-2                 (7)  the right to represent the child in legal action

 2-3     and to make other decisions of substantial legal significance

 2-4     concerning the child;

 2-5                 (8)  the right to receive and give receipt for payments

 2-6     for the support of the child and to hold or disburse funds for the

 2-7     benefit of the child;

 2-8                 (9)  the right to inherit from and through the child;

 2-9                 (10)  the duty and the right to direct the upbringing

2-10     of the child and to make decisions concerning the child's

2-11     education; and

2-12                 (11)  any other right or duty existing between a parent

2-13     and child by virtue of law.

2-14           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-19     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-20     passage, and it is so enacted.