Amend SB 228 on third reading by adding the following
appropriately numbered SECTIONS and renumbering subsequent
SECTIONS of the bill accordingly:
SECTION ____. Section 153.3161, Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 153.3161. [LIMITED] POSSESSION DURING MILITARY
DEPLOYMENT. (a) In this section, "military deployment" means
military duty ordered for a period of more than six months during
which the person ordered to duty:
(1) is not provided the option of being accompanied by
the person's child; and
(2) is serving in a location where access to the
person's child is not reasonably possible.
(b) In addition to the general terms and conditions of
possession required by Section 153.316, if a possessory conservator
or a joint managing conservator of the child without the exclusive
right to designate the primary residence of the child is currently a
member of the armed forces of the state or the United States or is
reasonably expected to join those forces, the court shall:
(1) permit that conservator to designate a person who
may exercise [limited] possession of the child on behalf of that
conservator during any period that the conservator is deployed
under a military deployment [outside of the United States]; and
(2) if the conservator elects to designate a person
under Subdivision (1), provide in the order for [limited]
possession of the child by the designated person under those
circumstances, subject to the court's determination that the
[limited] possession is in the best interest of the child.
(c) [(b)] If the court determines that the [limited]
possession is in the best interest of the child, the court shall
provide in the order that during periods of military deployment:
(1) the designated person has the right to possession
of the child for the periods and in the manner in which the deployed
conservator would be entitled to exercise possession if not
deployed [on the first weekend of each month beginning at 6 p.m. on
Friday and ending at 6 p.m. on Sunday];
(2) [the other parent shall surrender the child to the
designated person at the beginning of each period of possession at
the other parent's residence;
[(3) the designated person shall return the child to
the other parent's residence at the end of each period of
possession;
[(4)] the child's other parent and the designated
person are subject to the requirements of Section 153.316, with the
designated person considered for purposes of that section to be the
possessory conservator [Sections 153.316(5)-(9)];
(3) [(5)] the designated person has the rights and
duties of a nonparent possessory conservator under Section
153.376(a) during the period that the person has possession of the
child; and
(4) [(6)] the designated person is subject to any
provision in a court order restricting or prohibiting access to the
child by any specified individual.
(d) The court shall use every reasonable means to expedite a
hearing under this section to ensure that the order is rendered
before the conservator's military deployment, unless the court
determines that an expedited hearing is not in the best interest of
the child.
(e) [(c)] After the military deployment is concluded, and
the deployed parent returns to that parent's usual residence, the
designated person's right to [limited] possession under this
section terminates and the rights of all affected parties are
governed by the terms of any court order applicable when a parent is
not deployed.
SECTION ____. Subchapter F, Chapter 153, Family Code, is
amended by adding Section 153.3162 to read as follows:
Sec. 153.3162. ADDITIONAL PERIODS OF POSSESSION OR ACCESS
AFTER CONCLUSION OF MILITARY DEPLOYMENT. (a) In this section:
(1) "Conservator" means:
(A) a possessory conservator of a child; or
(B) a joint managing conservator of a child
without the exclusive right to designate the primary residence of
the child.
(2) "Military deployment" means military duty ordered
for a period of more than six months during which the person ordered
to duty:
(A) is not provided the option of being
accompanied by the person's child; and
(B) is serving in a location where access to the
person's child is not reasonably possible.
(b) Not later than the 90th day after the date a conservator
who is a member of the armed services concludes the conservator's
military deployment, the conservator may petition the court to:
(1) compute the periods of possession of or access to
the child to which the conservator would have otherwise been
entitled during the conservator's military deployment; and
(2) award the conservator additional periods of
possession of or access to the child to compensate for the periods
described by Subdivision (1).
(c) If a conservator petitions the court under Subsection
(b), the court:
(1) shall compute the periods of possession or access
to the child described by Subsection (b)(1); and
(2) may award to the conservator additional periods of
possession of or access to the child for a length of time and under
terms the court considers reasonable, if the court determines that
the award of additional periods of possession of or access to the
child is in the best interest of the child.
(d) In making the determination under Subsection (c)(2),
the court:
(1) shall consider:
(A) the periods of possession of or access to the
child to which the conservator would otherwise have been entitled
during the conservator's military deployment, as computed under
Subsection (c)(1); and
(B) any other factor the court considers
appropriate; and
(2) is not required to award additional periods of
possession of or access to the child that equals the possession or
access to which the conservator would have been entitled during the
conservator's military deployment, as computed under Subsection
(c)(1).
(e) After the conservator has exercised all additional
periods of possession or access awarded under this section, the
rights of all affected parties are governed by the terms of any
court order applicable when the conservator is not deployed under a
military deployment.
(f) This section does not apply if a court rendered an order
under Section 153.3161 that permitted a person to exercise the
right to possession of the child during the conservator's military
deployment for the period and in the manner in which the conservator
would be entitled to exercise possession if not deployed under a
military deployment.
SECTION ____. Section 156.105, Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 156.105. MODIFICATION OF ORDER BASED ON MILITARY
DEPLOYMENT. (a) In this section, "military deployment" means
military duty ordered for a period of more than six months during
which the person ordered to duty:
(1) is not provided the option of being accompanied by
the person's child; and
(2) is serving in a location where access to the
person's child is not reasonably possible.
(b) The military deployment [outside this country] of a
person who is a possessory conservator or a joint managing
conservator without the exclusive right to designate the primary
residence of the child is a material and substantial change of
circumstances sufficient to justify a modification of an existing
court order or portion of a decree that sets the terms and
conditions for the possession of or access to a child.
(c) [(b)] If the court determines that modification is in
the best interest of the child, the court may modify the order or
decree to provide in a manner consistent with Section 153.3161 for
[limited] possession of the child during the period of the military
deployment by a person designated by the deployed conservator.
SECTION ____. Section 153.3161, Family Code, as amended by
this Act, applies only to a suit affecting the parent-child
relationship pending in a trial court on or filed on or after the
effective date of this Act.
SECTION ____. Section 153.3162, Family Code, as added by
this Act, applies to a suit affecting the parent-child
relationship, or an action to modify an order in a suit affecting
the parent-child relationship, pending in a trial court on the
effective date of this Act or filed on or after that date.
SECTION ____. Section 156.105, Family Code, as amended by
this Act, applies only to an action to modify an order in a suit
affecting the parent-child relationship pending in a trial court on
or filed on or after the effective date of this Act.