By: Deshotel (Senate Sponsor - Miles) H.B. No. 1689
         (In the Senate - Received from the House April 11, 2019;
  April 15, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on State
  Affairs; April 29, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote:  
  Yeas 8, Nays 0; April 29, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to disclosure regarding the existence of a gestational
  agreement in a suit for the dissolution of a marriage and standing
  of an intended parent under a gestational agreement to file a suit
  affecting the parent-child relationship.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 6.406, Family Code, is amended by adding
  Subsection (a-1) to read as follows:
         (a-1)  If the parties to a suit for dissolution of a marriage
  are the intended parents under a gestational agreement that is in
  effect and that establishes a parent-child relationship between the
  parties as intended parents and an unborn child on the birth of the
  child, the petition in the suit for dissolution of a marriage shall
  state:
               (1)  that the parties to the marriage have entered into
  a gestational agreement establishing a parent-child relationship
  between the parties as intended parents and an unborn child on the
  birth of the child;
               (2)  whether the gestational mother under the agreement
  is pregnant or a child who is the subject of the agreement has been
  born; and
               (3)  whether the agreement has been validated under
  Section 160.756.
         SECTION 2.  Section 102.003, Family Code, is amended by
  amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to read as
  follows:
         (a)  An original suit may be filed at any time by:
               (1)  a parent of the child;
               (2)  the child through a representative authorized by
  the court;
               (3)  a custodian or person having the right of
  visitation with or access to the child appointed by an order of a
  court of another state or country;
               (4)  a guardian of the person or of the estate of the
  child;
               (5)  a governmental entity;
               (6)  the Department of Family and Protective Services;
               (7)  a licensed child placing agency;
               (8)  a man alleging himself to be the father of a child
  filing in accordance with Chapter 160, subject to the limitations
  of that chapter, but not otherwise;
               (9)  a person, other than a foster parent, who has had
  actual care, control, and possession of the child for at least six
  months ending not more than 90 days preceding the date of the filing
  of the petition;
               (10)  a person designated as the managing conservator
  in a revoked or unrevoked affidavit of relinquishment under Chapter
  161 or to whom consent to adoption has been given in writing under
  Chapter 162;
               (11)  a person with whom the child and the child's
  guardian, managing conservator, or parent have resided for at least
  six months ending not more than 90 days preceding the date of the
  filing of the petition if the child's guardian, managing
  conservator, or parent is deceased at the time of the filing of the
  petition;
               (12)  a person who is the foster parent of a child
  placed by the Department of Family and Protective Services in the
  person's home for at least 12 months ending not more than 90 days
  preceding the date of the filing of the petition;
               (13)  a person who is a relative of the child within the
  third degree by consanguinity, as determined by Chapter 573,
  Government Code, if the child's parents are deceased at the time of
  the filing of the petition; [or]
               (14)  a person who has been named as a prospective
  adoptive parent of a child by a pregnant woman or the parent of the
  child, in a verified written statement to confer standing executed
  under Section 102.0035, regardless of whether the child has been
  born; or
               (15)  subject to Subsection (d), a person who is an
  intended parent of a child or unborn child under a gestational
  agreement that substantially complies with the requirements of
  Section 160.754.
         (d)  A person described by Subsection (a)(15) has standing to
  file an original suit only if:
               (1)  the person is filing an original suit jointly with
  the other intended parent under the gestational agreement; or
               (2)  the person is filing an original suit against the
  other intended parent under the gestational agreement.
         SECTION 3.  Section 6.406, Family Code, as amended by this
  Act, applies only to a petition for dissolution of a marriage that
  is filed on or after the effective date of this Act. A petition for
  dissolution of a marriage that is filed before the effective date of
  this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the petition is
  filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
 
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