78R1114 KLA-D

By:  Hupp                                                         H.B. No. 1751



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to child support and medical support orders for certain 
children in substitute care.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 101.024, Family Code, is amended to read 
as follows:     
	Sec. 101.024.  PARENT. (a) "Parent" means the mother, a man 
presumed to be the father, a man legally determined to be the 
father, a man who has been adjudicated to be the father by a court of 
competent jurisdiction, a man who has acknowledged his paternity 
under applicable law, or an adoptive mother or father.  Except as 
provided by Subsection (b), the [The] term does not include a parent 
as to whom the parent-child relationship has been terminated.
	(b)  A reference in this title to a parent includes a person 
ordered to pay child support under Section 154.001(a-1) or to 
provide medical support for purposes of establishing, determining 
the terms of, modifying, or enforcing the order.
	SECTION 2.  Section 154.001, Family Code, is amended by 
adding Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:
	(a-1)  The court shall order each person who is financially 
able and whose parental rights have been terminated with respect to 
a child in substitute care for whom the department has been 
appointed managing conservator to support the child in the manner 
specified by the order:
		(1)  until the earliest of:                                            
			(A)  the child's adoption;                                            
			(B)  the child's 18th birthday or graduation from  
high school, whichever occurs later;
			(C)  removal of the child's disabilities of 
minority by court order, marriage, or other operation of law;  or
			(D)  the child's death;  or                                           
		(2)  if the child is disabled as defined in this 
chapter, for an indefinite period.
	SECTION 3.  Section 154.006(a), Family Code, is amended to 
read as follows:  
	(a)  Unless otherwise agreed in writing or expressly 
provided in the order or as provided by Subsection (b), the child 
support order terminates on the marriage of the child, removal of 
the child's disabilities for general purposes, or death of the 
child or a parent or other person described by Section 154.001(a-1) 
who is ordered to pay child support.
	SECTION 4.  Section 154.001, Family Code, as amended by this 
Act, applies only to a person whose parent-child relationship with 
respect to a child is  terminated on or after the effective date of 
this Act.  A person whose parent-child relationship is terminated 
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in 
effect on the date the parent-child relationship was terminated, 
and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
	SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.