By West                                                H.B. No. 586
         76R470 JMM-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the restriction of the parental rights of persons who
 1-3     engage in certain criminal conduct.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 153, Family Code, is
 1-6     amended by adding Section 153.014 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 153.014.  APPOINTMENT OF PARENTS WHO ENGAGE IN CERTAIN
 1-8     CRIMINAL CONDUCT PROHIBITED.  (a)  The court may not appoint a
 1-9     parent as a managing conservator or possessory conservator of a
1-10     child if the court finds that:
1-11                 (1)  the parent has been convicted of an offense
1-12     committed under Section 22.011, 22.021, or 25.02, Penal Code; and
1-13                 (2)  as a direct result of the commission of the
1-14     offense by the parent, the victim of the offense became pregnant
1-15     with the parent's child.
1-16           (b)  Subsection (a) does not apply to a parent whose
1-17     conviction of an offense under Subsection (a)(1) is overturned
1-18     because of subsequent pardon based on proof of evidence or
1-19     acquittal by the court of criminal appeals.
1-20           (c)  If a parent of a child is subject to Subsection (a), the
1-21     court may not appoint a person as managing conservator or
1-22     possessory conservator if the person is related to the parent:
1-23                 (1)  within the third degree by consanguinity; or
1-24                 (2)  within the third degree by affinity, unless the
 2-1     person is related to the victim of the offense by consanguinity.
 2-2           (d)  A parent of a child who is subject to Subsection (a)
 2-3     may be required to pay child support for the child under Chapter
 2-4     154.
 2-5           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
 2-6     applies only to a suit affecting the parent-child relationship
 2-7     commenced on or after that date.  A suit affecting the parent-child
 2-8     relationship filed before the effective date of this Act is
 2-9     governed by the law in effect on the date the suit was commenced,
2-10     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-11           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-12     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-13     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-14     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-15     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.