By Naishtat                                           H.B. No. 2164
         76R14407 E                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the appointment of a guardian for certain incapacitated
 1-3     minors.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subpart A, Part 3, Chapter XIII, Texas Probate
 1-6     Code, is amended by adding Section 682A to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 682A.  APPLICATION FOR APPOINTMENT OF GUARDIAN FOR
 1-8     CERTAIN PERSONS.  (a)  If a minor is a person who, because of
 1-9     incapacity, will require a guardianship after the ward is no longer
1-10     a minor, a person may file an application under Section 682 of this
1-11     code for the appointment of a guardian of the person and/or the
1-12     estate of the proposed ward not earlier than the 60th day before
1-13     the proposed ward's 18th birthday.
1-14           (b)  Notwithstanding Section 694(b) of this code, the
1-15     guardianship of the person of a minor who is the subject of an
1-16     application for the appointment of a guardian of the person filed
1-17     under Subsection (a) of this section is settled and closed when:
1-18                 (1)  the court, after a hearing on the application,
1-19     determines that the appointment of a guardian of the person for the
1-20     proposed ward is not necessary; or
1-21                 (2)  the guardian appointed by the court after a
1-22     hearing on the application has qualified under Section 699 of this
1-23     code.
1-24           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
 2-1     applies only to an application for the appointment of a guardian
 2-2     filed on or after the effective date of this Act.
 2-3           (b)  An application for the appointment of a guardian filed
 2-4     before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
 2-5     effect on the date the application was filed, and the former law is
 2-6     continued in effect for that purpose.
 2-7           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.