SRC-JBJ S.B. 1000 77(R)   BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research Center   S.B. 1000
77R8197 MCK-DBy: Jackson
Jurisprudence
3/22/2001
As Filed


DIGEST AND PURPOSE 

Under current Texas law, there are no statutes regulating the international
adoption process leaving the procedure for these matters to be determined
by each individual county.  As proposed, S.B. 1000 provides unified
procedures relating to international adoptions and the birth certification
of such adoptees. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a
state officer, institution, or agency. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Chapter 162A, Family Code, by adding Section 162.023, as
follows: 

Sec. 162.023.  ADOPTION ORDER FROM FOREIGN COUNTRY.  (a)  Requires that an
adoption order rendered under due process of law by a court of a foreign
country, except as otherwise provided by federal law, be accorded full
faith and credit by the courts of this state and enforced as if the order
were rendered by a court in this state. 

(b)  Requires a Texas resident who adopts a child in a foreign country to
register the order in this state.  Authorizes a petition for registration
of a foreign adoption order to be combined with a petition for a name
change under Chapter 45.  Requires the court to order the state register to
take certain enumerated actions if the court finds that the foreign
adoption order meets the requirements of Subsection (a). 

SECTION 2.  Amends Chapter 192A, Health and Safety Code, by adding Section
192.0095, as follows: 

Sec. 192.0025.  CERTIFICATE OF FOREIGN BIRTH.  (a)  Requires the state
registrar, on order of a court, to prepare and register a certificate of
foreign birth for an adoptee born in a foreign country who is not a citizen
of the Unites States and whose judgment of adoption was entered by a court
of this state.  

(b)  Requires that the certificate be based on the report or certified copy
of the adoption decree and evidence of the date and place of the adoptee's
birth. 

(c)  Requires that the certificate be labeled "Certificate of Foreign
Birth" and show the country and date of birth of the adoptee.  Requires
that the certificate include a statement that the certificate is not
evidence of United States citizenship. 

(d)  Prohibits the Texas Department of Health (department) from preparing a
certificate of foreign birth for the child if the adoptee was born in a
foreign country but was a citizen of the United States at the time of
birth.  Requires the department to notify the  adoptive parents, or the
adoptee if of legal age, of the procedure for obtaining a revised birth
certificate through the United States Department of State. 

SECTION 3.  Effective date: September 1, 2001.