By Edwards                                            H.B. No. 2455
         76R8600 KLA-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to access for certain persons to the medical records of a
 1-3     child.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 153.371, Family Code, is amended to read
 1-6     as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 153.371.  RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF NONPARENT APPOINTED AS
 1-8     SOLE MANAGING CONSERVATOR.  Unless limited by court order or other
 1-9     provisions of this chapter, a nonparent, licensed child-placing
1-10     agency, or  authorized agency appointed as a managing conservator
1-11     of the child has the following rights and duties:
1-12                 (1)  the right to have physical possession and to
1-13     direct the moral and religious training of the child;
1-14                 (2)  the duty of care, control, protection, and
1-15     reasonable discipline of the child;
1-16                 (3)  the duty to provide the child with clothing, food,
1-17     shelter, education, and medical, psychological, and dental care;
1-18                 (4)  the right to consent for the child to medical,
1-19     psychiatric, psychological, dental, and surgical treatment and to
1-20     have access to the child's medical records;
1-21                 (5)  the right to receive and give receipt for payments
1-22     for the support of the child and to hold or disburse funds for the
1-23     benefit of the child;
1-24                 (6)  the right to the services and earnings of the
 2-1     child;
 2-2                 (7)  the right to consent to marriage and to enlistment
 2-3     in the armed forces of the United States;
 2-4                 (8)  the right to represent the child in legal action
 2-5     and to make other decisions of substantial legal significance
 2-6     concerning the child;
 2-7                 (9)  except when a guardian of the child's estate or a
 2-8     guardian or attorney ad litem has been appointed for the child, the
 2-9     right to act as an agent of the child in relation to the child's
2-10     estate if the child's action is required by a state, the United
2-11     States, or a foreign government;
2-12                 (10)  the right to establish the primary residence of
2-13     the child and to make decisions regarding the child's education;
2-14     and
2-15                 (11)  if the parent-child relationship has been
2-16     terminated with respect to the parents, or only living parent, or
2-17     if there is no living parent, the right to consent to the adoption
2-18     of the child and to make any other decision concerning the child
2-19     that a parent could make.
2-20           SECTION 2.  Subchapter G, Chapter 153, Family Code, is
2-21     amended by adding Section 153.3721 to read as follows:
2-22           Sec. 153.3721.  ACCESS TO CERTAIN RECORDS BY NONPARENT JOINT
2-23     MANAGING CONSERVATOR.  Unless limited by court order or other
2-24     provisions of this chapter, a nonparent joint managing conservator
2-25     has the right of access to the medical records of the child,
2-26     without regard to whether the right is specified in the order.
2-27           SECTION 3.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 3-1           (b)  The change in law made by this Act entitles a person to
 3-2     access to medical records without regard to whether the medical
 3-3     records were made before, on, or after the effective date of this
 3-4     Act.
 3-5           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-6     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-7     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-8     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-9     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.