76R10761 CMR-D                          
         By Lindsay                                             S.B. No. 996
         Substitute the following for S.B. No. 996:
         By Coleman                                         C.S.S.B. No. 996
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to funeral expenses for children in foster care.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 264.012, Family Code, is amended to read
 1-5     as follows:
 1-6           Sec. 264.012. FUNERAL EXPENSES FOR CHILD IN FOSTER CARE. (a)
 1-7     The department shall request that the parents pay reasonable and
 1-8     necessary funeral expenses for a child for whom the department has
 1-9     been appointed managing conservator and who dies in foster care,
1-10     including a request that if the parents have an insurance policy or
1-11     a  bank account for the child, that the parents spend the proceeds
1-12     from the policy or money in the account on the funeral expenses. If
1-13     the parents cannot pay all or part of the funeral expenses, the
1-14     department shall [may] spend funds appropriated for the child
1-15     protective services program to pay reasonable and necessary funeral
1-16     expenses for the [a] child [for whom the department has been
1-17     appointed managing conservator and who dies in foster care].
1-18           (b)  The department may accept donations, gifts, or in-kind
1-19     contributions to cover the costs of any funeral expenses for
1-20     children for whom the department has been appointed managing
1-21     conservator.
1-22           (c)  This section does not apply to a foster parent.
1-23           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-24           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-1     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-2     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-3     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-4     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.