By Ellis                                              S.B. No. 1711
         76R5519 KLA-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to a suit for modification of an order that designates a
 1-3     sole or joint managing conservator of a child.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 156, Family Code, is
 1-6     amended by adding Section 156.007 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 156.007.  PRESUMPTION OF JOINT MANAGING CONSERVATORSHIP.
 1-8     (a)  In a suit for modification under Subchapter B or C, the court
 1-9     shall consider that it is a rebuttable presumption that the
1-10     appointment of the parents of the child as joint managing
1-11     conservators is in the best interest of the child.
1-12           (b)  A finding of a history of family violence involving the
1-13     parents of a child removes the presumption under this section.
1-14           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-15     applies to a suit for modification of an order providing for
1-16     conservatorship of a child pending on that date or filed on or
1-17     after that date.
1-18           (b)  The enactment of this Act does not by itself constitute
1-19     a material and substantial change of circumstances under Chapter
1-20     156, Family Code, sufficient to warrant modification of a court
1-21     order or portion of a decree that provides for the appointment of a
1-22     conservator rendered before the effective date of this Act.
1-23           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-24     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-2     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.