1-1     By:  Naishtat (Senate Sponsor - Moncrief)             H.B. No. 1411
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 16, 1999;
 1-3     April 19, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Jurisprudence; May 5, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable
 1-5     Committee Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 0;
 1-6     May 5, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 1411               By:  Wentworth
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to the conservatorship of and access to certain children
1-11     by parents having a history of family violence.
1-12           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-13           SECTION 1.  Chapter 101, Family Code, is amended by adding
1-14     Section 101.0125 to read as follows:
1-15           Sec. 101.0125.  FAMILY VIOLENCE.  "Family violence" has the
1-16     meaning assigned by Section 71.004.
1-17           SECTION 2.  Section 153.001(a), Family Code, is amended to
1-18     read as follows:
1-19           (a)  The public policy of this state is to:
1-20                 (1)  assure that children will have frequent and
1-21     continuing contact with parents who have shown the ability to act
1-22     in the best interest of the child;
1-23                 (2)  provide a safe, stable, and nonviolent environment
1-24     for the child; and
1-25                 (3)  encourage parents to share in the rights and
1-26     duties of raising their child after the parents have separated or
1-27     dissolved their marriage.
1-28           SECTION 3.  Section 153.004, Family Code, is amended by
1-29     adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
1-30           (d)  The court may not allow a parent to have access to a
1-31     child for whom it is shown by a preponderance of the evidence that
1-32     there is a history or pattern of committing family violence during
1-33     the two years preceding the date of the filing of the suit or
1-34     during the pendency of the suit, unless the court:
1-35                 (1)  finds that awarding the parent access to the child
1-36     would not endanger the child's physical health or emotional welfare
1-37     and would be in the best interest of the child; and
1-38                 (2)  renders a possession order that is designed to
1-39     protect the safety and well-being of the child and any other person
1-40     who has been a  victim of family violence committed by the parent
1-41     and that may include a requirement that:
1-42                       (A)  the periods of access be continuously
1-43     supervised by an entity or person chosen by the court;
1-44                       (B)  the exchange of possession of the child
1-45     occur in a protective setting;
1-46                       (C)  the parent abstain from the consumption of
1-47     alcohol or a controlled substance, as defined by Chapter 481,
1-48     Health and Safety Code, within 12 hours prior to or during the
1-49     period of access to the child; or
1-50                       (D)  the parent attend and complete a battering
1-51     intervention and prevention program as provided by Article 42.141,
1-52     Code of Criminal Procedure, or, if such a program is not available,
1-53     complete a course of treatment under Section 153.010.
1-54           SECTION 4.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-55     applies to a suit affecting the parent-child relationship filed on
1-56     or after that date.  A suit filed before the effective date of this
1-57     Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the suit was
1-58     filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-59           (b)  The enactment of this Act does not by itself constitute
1-60     a material and substantial change of circumstances sufficient to
1-61     warrant modification of a court order or portion of a decree that
1-62     provides for the possession of or access to a child rendered before
1-63     the effective date of this Act.
1-64           SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-1     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-2     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-3     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-4     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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