By Turner of Harris                                   H.B. No. 1080
         76R3100 KLA-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the termination of the parent-child relationship of
 1-3     certain parents.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 161.005, Family Code, is amended to read
 1-6     as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 161.005.  TERMINATION WHEN PARENT IS PETITIONER.  (a)  A
 1-8     parent may file a suit for termination of the petitioner's
 1-9     parent-child relationship.  The court may order  termination if
1-10     termination is in the best interest of the child.
1-11           (b)  Either parent may file a suit for termination of the
1-12     parent-child relationship of a father who executed a voluntary
1-13     statement of paternity under Subchapter C, Chapter 160.
1-14     Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the court shall order termination
1-15     in a suit filed  under this subsection only if the court finds that
1-16     the father:
1-17                 (1)  executed a statement of paternity under Section
1-18     160.202 and, on the basis of that statement, is the subject of a
1-19     final order declaring him to be a parent of the child; and
1-20                 (2)  subsequent to executing the statement of
1-21     paternity, has been excluded as the father of the child through
1-22     scientifically accepted parentage testing that meets the
1-23     requirements of Section 160.103.
1-24           (c)  If the petition designates the Department of Protective
 2-1     and Regulatory Services as managing conservator, the department
 2-2     shall be given service of citation.  The court shall notify the
 2-3     department if the court appoints the department as the managing
 2-4     conservator of the child.
 2-5           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
 2-6     applies to a suit for termination of the parent-child relationship
 2-7     commenced on or after that date.  A suit for termination of the
 2-8     parent-child relationship commenced before  the effective date of
 2-9     this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the suit was
2-10     filed, 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.