| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to attorney fees in parent-child proceedings. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Subsection 107.015(c), Family Code, is amended |
|
|
to read as follows: |
|
|
(c) If indigency of the parents is shown, an attorney ad |
|
|
litem appointed to represent a child or parent in a suit filed by a |
|
|
governmental entity shall be paid from general funds of the county |
|
|
according to the fee schedule that applies to an attorney appointed |
|
|
to represent a child in a suit under Title 3 as provided by Chapter |
|
|
51. The court may not award attorney ad litem fees under this |
|
|
chapter against the state, a state agency, or a political |
|
|
subdivision of the state except as provided by this subsection. |
|
|
Upon application by a county, the Comptroller shall reimburse the |
|
|
county for fees paid under this subsection from funds appropriated |
|
|
for that purpose. |
|
|
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives |
|
|
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as |
|
|
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this |
|
|
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this |
|
|
Act takes effect September 1, 2009. |