By: Seliger, Averitt S.B. No. 952
(In the Senate - Filed March 3, 2005; March 14, 2005, read
first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence; May 2, 2005,
reported adversely, with favorable Committee Substitute by the
following vote: Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 2, 2005, sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 952 By: Wentworth
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to medical support for a child.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 154.182, Family Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsections (d) and (e) to read
as follows:
(b) In determining the manner in which health insurance for
the child is to be ordered, the court shall render its order in
accordance with the following priorities, unless a party shows good
cause why a particular order would not be in the best interest of
the child:
(1) if health insurance is available for the child
through the obligor's employment or membership in a union, trade
association, or other organization at reasonable cost to the
obligor, the court shall order the obligor to include the child in
the obligor's health insurance;
(2) if health insurance is not available for the child
through the obligor's employment but is available for the child at a
reasonable cost through the obligee's employment or membership in a
union, trade association, or other organization, the court may
order the obligee to provide health insurance for the child, and, in
such event, shall order the obligor to pay additional child support
to be withheld from earnings under Chapter 158 to the obligee for
the actual cost of the health insurance for the child;
(3) if health insurance is not available for the child
under Subdivision (1) or (2), the court shall order the obligor to
provide health insurance for the child if the court finds that
health insurance is available to the obligor for the child from
another source and at reasonable cost;
(4) if neither parent has access to private health
insurance at a reasonable cost, the court:
(A) shall order that the custodial parent or, to
the extent permitted by law, the noncustodial parent immediately
apply on behalf of the child for participation in a medical
assistance program under Chapter 32, Human Resources Code, or the
state child health plan under Chapter 62, Health and Safety Code,
and that the obligor pay additional child support, to be withheld
from income under Chapter 158, to the obligee for the actual cost of
participation of the child in the state child health plan; and
(B) may order the obligor to pay an additional
amount that when added to any amount required to be paid by the
obligor under Paragraph (A) does not exceed 10 percent of the
obligor's net income in a month to the state for reimbursement of
any or all costs incurred by the state in providing coverage for the
child under a medical assistance program or the state child health
plan described by Paragraph (A); or
(5) if health coverage is not available for the child
under Subdivision (1), (2), (3), or (4), the court shall order the
obligor to pay the obligee, in addition to any amount ordered under
the guidelines for child support, a reasonable amount each month as
medical support for the child to be withheld from earnings under
Chapter 158.
(d) Notwithstanding Subsection (b)(4)(B), the court may not
order an obligor to pay an additional amount under that subsection
if the child was enrolled in the state child health plan described
by Subsection (b)(4)(A) on the date a court rendered a final decree
of dissolution of a marriage between the obligor and obligee.
(e) The court shall deduct from the amount an obligor is
ordered to pay under Subsection (b)(4)(B) in a month any amount the
obligor has paid under Subsection (b)(4)(A) in that month.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a medical support order rendered in a suit affecting the
parent-child relationship on or after the effective date of this
Act. A medical support order rendered in a suit affecting the
parent-child relationship before that date is governed by the law
in effect on the date the suit was filed, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
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