1-1 By: Williams (Senate Sponsor - Ogden) H.B. No. 2526
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 13, 1997, reported favorably by the following
1-5 vote: Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 13, 1997, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the duties of an attorney ad litem in a suit affecting
1-9 the parent-child relationship.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Section 107.014, Family Code, is amended to read
1-12 as follows:
1-13 Sec. 107.014. POWERS AND DUTIES OF ATTORNEY AD LITEM FOR
1-14 CHILD. (a) An attorney ad litem appointed under this subchapter
1-15 to represent a child [may]:
1-16 (1) shall investigate to the extent the attorney ad
1-17 litem considers appropriate to determine the facts of the case;
1-18 (2) shall obtain and review copies of all of the
1-19 child's relevant medical, psychological, and school records; and
1-20 (3) may call, examine, or [and] cross-examine
1-21 witnesses.
1-22 (b) An attorney ad litem appointed to represent a child
1-23 shall within a reasonable time after the appointment:
1-24 (1) interview the child if the child is four years of
1-25 age or older; [and]
1-26 (2) interview individuals with significant knowledge
1-27 of the child's history and condition; and
1-28 (3) interview all parties to the suit.
1-29 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and
1-30 applies only to an attorney ad litem appointed on or after that
1-31 date. An attorney ad litem appointed before the effective date of
1-32 this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the attorney
1-33 ad litem was appointed, and the former law is continued in effect
1-34 for that purpose.
1-35 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
1-36 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-37 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-38 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-39 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-40 * * * * *