By:  Lindsay                                           S.B. No. 996
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                       AN ACT
 1-1     relating to funeral expenses for children in foster care.
 1-2           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-3           SECTION 1.  Section 264.012, Family Code, is amended to read
 1-4     as follows:
 1-5           Sec. 264.012.  FUNERAL EXPENSES FOR CHILD IN FOSTER CARE.
 1-6     The department shall request the biological parent or parents to
 1-7     pay reasonable and necessary funeral expenses for a child for whom
 1-8     the department has been appointed managing conservator and who dies
 1-9     in foster care.  If the biological parents have an insurance policy
1-10     or savings account for the child, these resources should be spent
1-11     on the funeral expenses.  If the biological parent or parents
1-12     cannot pay the funeral expenses, the department shall [may] spend
1-13     funds appropriated for the child protective services program to pay
1-14     reasonable and necessary funeral expenses for a child for whom the
1-15     department has been appointed managing conservator and who dies in
1-16     foster care.  The department may accept donations, gifts, or
1-17     in-kind expenses in relation to funeral expenses for children for
1-18     whom the department has been appointed managing conservator.
1-19           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-20           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-21     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-22     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-23     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-24     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.