By Goodman                                       H.B. No. 308

      75R1843 SKB-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the authority to issue protective orders.

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

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 71.01(b)(1), Family Code, is amended to

 1-5     read as follows:

 1-6                 (1)  "Court" means the district court, court of

 1-7     domestic relations, juvenile court having the jurisdiction of a

 1-8     district court, or other court expressly given jurisdiction of a

 1-9     suit under this subtitle, a constitutional county court, or a

1-10     statutory county court.

1-11           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect on September 1, 1997, and

1-12     applies only to an application for a protective order made on or

1-13     after that date.

1-14           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.