1-1     By:  Thompson, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Duncan)       H.B. No. 2005

 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 27, 1997;

 1-3     April 29, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on

 1-4     Jurisprudence; May 15, 1997, reported favorably by the following

 1-5     vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 15, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the possession of and access to grandchildren by

 1-9     grandparents.

1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-11           SECTION 1.  Section 153.433, Family Code, is amended to read

1-12     as follows:

1-13           Sec. 153.433.  POSSESSION OF AND ACCESS TO GRANDCHILD.  The

1-14     court shall [may] order reasonable access to a grandchild by a

1-15     grandparent if:

1-16                 (1)  at the time the relief is requested, at least one

1-17     biological or adoptive parent of the child has not had that

1-18     parent's parental rights terminated;  and

1-19                 (2)  access is in the best interest of the child, and

1-20     at least one of the following facts is present:

1-21                       (A)  the grandparent requesting access to the

1-22     child is a parent of a parent of the child and that parent of the

1-23     child has been incarcerated in jail or prison during the

1-24     three-month period preceding the filing of the petition or has been

1-25     found by a court to be incompetent or is dead;

1-26                       (B)  the parents of the child are divorced or

1-27     have been living apart for the three-month period preceding the

1-28     filing of the petition or a suit for the dissolution of the

1-29     parents' marriage is pending;

1-30                       (C)  the child has been abused or neglected by a

1-31     parent of the child;

1-32                       (D)  the child has been adjudicated to be a child

1-33     in need of supervision or a delinquent child under Title 3;

1-34                       (E)  the grandparent requesting access to the

1-35     child is the parent of a person whose parent-child relationship

1-36     with the child has been terminated by court order;  or

1-37                       (F)  the child has resided with the grandparent

1-38     requesting access to the child for at least six months within the

1-39     24-month period preceding the filing of the petition.

1-40           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-41     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-42     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-43     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-44     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-45     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-46     passage, and it is so enacted.

1-47                                  * * * * *