By Goolsby                                              H.B. No. 24
         76R568 MCK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to access to a child by certain grandparents.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 153.433, Family Code, is amended to read
 1-5     as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 153.433.  [POSSESSION OF AND] ACCESS TO GRANDCHILD.
 1-7     Except as provided by Section 153.434, the [The] court shall order
 1-8     reasonable  access to a grandchild by a grandparent if[:]
 1-9                 [(1)  at the time the relief is requested, at least one
1-10     biological or adoptive parent of the child has not had that
1-11     parent's parental rights terminated; and]
1-12                 [(2)]  access is in the best interest of the child[,
1-13     and at least one of the following facts is present:]
1-14                       [(A)  the grandparent requesting access to the
1-15     child is a parent of a parent of the child and that parent of the
1-16     child has been incarcerated in jail or prison during the
1-17     three-month period preceding the filing of the petition or has been
1-18     found by a court to be incompetent or is dead;]
1-19                       [(B)  the parents of the child are divorced or
1-20     have been living apart for the three-month period preceding the
1-21     filing of the petition or a suit for the dissolution of the
1-22     parents' marriage is pending;]
1-23                       [(C)  the child has been abused or neglected by a
1-24     parent of the child;]
 2-1                       [(D)  the child has been adjudicated to be a
 2-2     child in need of supervision or a delinquent child under Title 3;]
 2-3                       [(E)  the grandparent requesting access to the
 2-4     child is the parent of a person whose parent-child relationship
 2-5     with the child has been terminated by court order; or]
 2-6                       [(F)  the child has resided with the grandparent
 2-7     requesting access to the child for at least six months within the
 2-8     24-month period preceding the filing of the petition].
 2-9           SECTION 2.  Section 153.434, Family Code, is amended to read
2-10     as follows:
2-11           Sec. 153.434.  LIMITATION ON RIGHT TO REQUEST ACCESS.  A
2-12     biological or adoptive grandparent may not request possession of or
2-13     access to a grandchild if:
2-14                 (1)  the grandparent is a parent of a person:
2-15                       (A)  whose parental rights with the child have
2-16     been terminated by court order or by death; or
2-17                       (B) [(2)  the grandparent is a parent of a
2-18     person] who has executed an affidavit of waiver of interest in
2-19     child or an affidavit of  relinquishment of parental rights under
2-20     Chapter 161 and the affidavit designates an authorized agency,
2-21     licensed child-placing agency, or person other than the child's
2-22     stepparent as the managing conservator of the child; and
2-23                 (2) [(3)]  the other biological parent has died, has
2-24     executed an affidavit of waiver of interest in child or an
2-25     affidavit of relinquishment of parental rights under Chapter 161,
2-26     or has had that parent's parental rights terminated and the
2-27     grandchild has been adopted by a person other than the  child's
 3-1     stepparent.
 3-2           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 3-7     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 3-8     passage, and it is so enacted.