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.