By Talton                                       H.B. No. 1950

      75R4308 JMM-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the admissibility of certain evidence and testimony in

 1-3     a suit affecting the parent-child relationship.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Chapter 104, Family Code, is amended by adding

 1-6     Section 104.006 to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 104.006.  HEARSAY STATEMENT OF CHILD ABUSE VICTIM.

 1-8     (a)  A statement made by a child that alleges abuse of the child is

 1-9     admissible in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship if the

1-10     statement was made:

1-11                 (1)  by the child against whom the abuse allegedly was

1-12     committed; and

1-13                 (2)  to the first person, 18 years of age or older,

1-14     other than the person alleged to have committed the abuse, to whom

1-15     the child made a statement about the abuse.

1-16           (b)  A statement that meets the requirements of Subsection

1-17     (a) is not inadmissible because of the hearsay rule if:

1-18                 (1)  on or before the 14th day before the date the

1-19     hearing in which the statement is to be offered begins, the party

1-20     intending to offer the statement:

1-21                       (A)  notifies each adverse party of the party's

1-22     intention to offer the statement;

1-23                       (B)  provides each adverse party with the name of

1-24     the witness through whom the party intends to offer the statement;

 2-1     and

 2-2                       (C)  provides each adverse party with a written

 2-3     summary of the statement;

 2-4                 (2)  the court finds, in a hearing not conducted in the

 2-5     presence of the jury, that the statement is reliable based on the

 2-6     time, content, and circumstances of the statement; and

 2-7                 (3)  the child testifies or is available to testify at

 2-8     the hearing in court or in any other manner provided by law.

 2-9           (c)  In this section, "abuse" has the meaning assigned by

2-10     Section 261.001.

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

2-12     applies only to a hearing in a suit affecting the parent-child

2-13     relationship that occurs on or after that date.  A hearing in a

2-14     suit affecting the parent-child relationship that occurs before the

2-15     effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the

2-16     time the hearing occurred, and the former law is continued in

2-17     effect for that purpose.

2-18           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-19     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-20     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-21     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-22     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.