1-1     By:  Lindsay                                           S.B. No. 996
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed March 8, 1999; March 10, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Human Services;
 1-4     March 22, 1999, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
 1-5     Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 5, Nays 0; March 22, 1999,
 1-6     sent to printer.)
 1-7     COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 996                   By:  Carona
 1-8                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-9                                   AN ACT
1-10     relating to funeral expenses for children in foster care.
1-11           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-12           SECTION 1.  Section 264.012, Family Code, is amended to read
1-13     as follows:
1-14           Sec. 264.012.  FUNERAL EXPENSES FOR CHILD IN FOSTER CARE.
1-15     The department shall request the biological parent or parents to
1-16     pay reasonable and necessary funeral expenses for a child for whom
1-17     the department has been appointed managing conservator and who dies
1-18     in foster care.  If the biological parents have an insurance policy
1-19     or savings account for the child, these resources should be spent
1-20     on the funeral expenses.  If the biological parent or parents
1-21     cannot pay the funeral expenses, the department shall [may] spend
1-22     funds appropriated for the child protective services program to pay
1-23     reasonable and necessary funeral expenses for a child for whom the
1-24     department has been appointed managing conservator and who dies in
1-25     foster care.  The department may accept donations, gifts, or
1-26     in-kind expenses in relation to funeral expenses for children for
1-27     whom the department has been appointed managing conservator.
1-28           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-29           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-30     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-31     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-32     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-33     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-34                                  * * * * *