1-1 By: Harris, Ellis S.B. No. 580
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed February 17, 1999; February 22, 1999,
1-3 read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
1-4 March 31, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 3,
1-5 Nays 0; March 31, 1999, sent to printer.)
1-6 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-7 AN ACT
1-8 relating to the creation of an offense for violating a court order
1-9 regarding the parent-child relationship.
1-10 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11 SECTION 1. Subsections (a) and (b), Section 25.03, Penal
1-12 Code, are amended to read as follows:
1-13 (a) A person commits an offense if the person [he] takes or
1-14 retains a child younger than 18 years when the person [he]:
1-15 (1) knows that the [his] taking or retention violates
1-16 the express terms of a judgment or order of a court that provides
1-17 for the possession of or access to the child [disposing of the
1-18 child's custody]; or
1-19 (2) has not been appointed managing or possessory
1-20 conservator [awarded custody] of the child by a court of competent
1-21 jurisdiction, knows that a suit for divorce or a civil suit or
1-22 application for habeas corpus to provide for possession of or
1-23 access to the child [dispose of the child's custody] has been
1-24 filed, and takes the child out of the geographic area of the
1-25 counties composing the judicial district if the court is a district
1-26 court or the county if the court is a statutory county court,
1-27 without the permission of the court and with the intent to deprive
1-28 the court of authority over the child.
1-29 (b) A person who has been appointed possessory conservator
1-30 or joint managing conservator of a child younger than 18 years of
1-31 age and is not the person with whom the child primarily resides
1-32 [noncustodial parent] commits an offense if, with the intent to
1-33 interfere with the express terms of a judgment or order of a court
1-34 that provides for the possession of or access to the [lawful
1-35 custody of a] child [younger than 18 years], the person [he]
1-36 knowingly entices or persuades the child to leave the care,
1-37 custody, or control of:
1-38 (1) a person who has been appointed managing
1-39 conservator of the child and who designates the primary residence
1-40 of the child; or
1-41 (2) the [custodial parent,] guardian[, or person
1-42 standing in the stead of the custodial parent or guardian] of the
1-43 child.
1-44 SECTION 2. Chapter 25, Penal Code, is amended by adding
1-45 Section 25.032 to read as follows:
1-46 Sec. 25.032. VIOLATION OF COURT ORDER REGARDING PARENT-CHILD
1-47 RELATIONSHIP. (a) A person who has been appointed managing
1-48 conservator of a child and is the person with whom the child
1-49 primarily resides commits an offense if the person:
1-50 (1) intentionally or knowingly interferes with the
1-51 possession of or access to the child by a person who has been
1-52 appointed possessory conservator or managing conservator of the
1-53 child and with whom the child does not primarily reside; and
1-54 (2) knows that the interference is in violation of the
1-55 express terms of a judgment or order of a court that provides for
1-56 the possession of or access to a child.
1-57 (b) Except as provided by Subsection (c), an offense under
1-58 this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed
1-59 $50.
1-60 (c) If it is shown on the trial of an offense punishable
1-61 under Subsection (a) that the defendant has previously been
1-62 convicted of two offenses under this section and the second
1-63 previous conviction is for an offense that occurred subsequent to
1-64 the entry of judgment for the first previous conviction, on
2-1 conviction the defendant shall be punished for a Class C
2-2 misdemeanor. Section 12.03(c) does not prohibit the use for
2-3 enhancement purposes of a prior conviction of an offense under this
2-4 section.
2-5 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-6 SECTION 4. (a) The change in law made by this Act to
2-7 Section 25.03, Penal Code, applies only to an offense committed on
2-8 or after the effective date of this Act. For purposes of this
2-9 section, an offense is committed before the effective date of this
2-10 Act if any element of the offense occurs before that date.
2-11 (b) An offense committed before the effective date of this
2-12 Act is covered by the law in effect when the offense was committed,
2-13 and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-14 SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the
2-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-19 * * * * *