By Naishtat                                            H.B. No. 960
         77R1566 MCK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the appointment of a person who has a history of abuse
 1-3     or neglect as a sole managing conservator.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1. Section 153.004(b), Family Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           (b)  The court may not appoint joint managing conservators if
 1-8     credible evidence is presented of a history or pattern of past or
 1-9     present child neglect, or physical or sexual abuse by one parent
1-10     directed against the other parent, a spouse, or a child.  It is a
1-11     rebuttable presumption that the appointment of a parent as the sole
1-12     managing conservator of a child is not in the best interest of the
1-13     child if credible evidence is presented of a history or pattern of
1-14     past or present child neglect, or physical or sexual abuse by that
1-15     parent directed against the other parent, a spouse, or a child.
1-16           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 2001, and
1-17     applies only to an order in a suit affecting the parent-child
1-18     relationship rendered on or after that date, without regard to
1-19     whether the suit was filed before, on, or after that date.
1-20           (b)  The enactment of this Act does not by itself constitute
1-21     a material and substantial change of circumstances sufficient to
1-22     warrant modification of a court order or portion of a decree that
1-23     provides for the possession of or access to a child rendered before
1-24     the effective date of this Act.