By Thompson                                     H.B. No. 2005

      75R6060 SKB-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the possession of and access to grandchildren by

 1-3     grandparents.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 153.433, Family Code, is amended to read

 1-6     as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 153.433.  POSSESSION OF AND ACCESS TO GRANDCHILD.  The

 1-8     court shall [may] order reasonable access to a grandchild by a

 1-9     grandparent if:

1-10                 (1)  at the time the relief is requested, at least one

1-11     biological or adoptive parent of the child has not had that

1-12     parent's parental rights terminated;  and

1-13                 (2)  access is in the best interest of the child, and

1-14     at least one of the following facts is present:

1-15                       (A)  the grandparent requesting access to the

1-16     child is a parent of a parent of the child and that parent of the

1-17     child has been incarcerated in jail or prison during the

1-18     three-month period preceding the filing of the petition or has been

1-19     found by a court to be incompetent or is dead;

1-20                       (B)  the parents of the child are divorced or

1-21     have been living apart for the three-month period preceding the

1-22     filing of the petition or a suit for the dissolution of the

1-23     parents' marriage is pending;

1-24                       (C)  the child has been abused or neglected by a

 2-1     parent of the child;

 2-2                       (D)  the child has been adjudicated to be a child

 2-3     in need of supervision or a delinquent child under Title 3;

 2-4                       (E)  the grandparent requesting access to the

 2-5     child is the parent of a person whose parent-child relationship

 2-6     with the child has been terminated by court order;  or

 2-7                       (F)  the child has resided with the grandparent

 2-8     requesting access to the child for at least six months within the

 2-9     24-month period preceding the filing of the petition.

2-10           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-15     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-16     passage, and it is so enacted.