By Williams                                           H.B. No. 2526

         75R11372 JMM-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the duties of an attorney ad litem in a suit affecting

 1-3     the parent-child relationship.

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

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 107.014, Family Code, is amended to read

 1-6     as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 107.014.  POWERS AND DUTIES OF ATTORNEY AD LITEM FOR

 1-8     CHILD.  (a)  An attorney ad litem appointed under this subchapter

 1-9     to represent a child [may]:

1-10                 (1)  shall investigate to the extent the attorney ad

1-11     litem considers appropriate to determine the facts of the case;

1-12                 (2)  shall obtain and review copies of all of the

1-13     child's relevant medical, psychological, and school records; and

1-14                 (3)  may call, examine, or [and] cross-examine

1-15     witnesses.

1-16           (b)  An attorney ad litem appointed to represent a child

1-17     shall within a reasonable time after the appointment:

1-18                 (1)  interview the child if the child is four years of

1-19     age or older; [and]

1-20                 (2)  interview individuals with significant knowledge

1-21     of the child's history and condition; and

1-22                 (3)  interview all parties to the suit.

1-23           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

1-24     applies only to an attorney ad litem appointed on or after that

 2-1     date.  An attorney ad litem appointed before the effective date of

 2-2     this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the attorney

 2-3     ad litem was appointed, and the former law is continued in effect

 2-4     for that purpose.

 2-5           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-6     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-7     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 2-8     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 2-9     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.