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.

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