By: Perry  S.B. No. 185
         (In the Senate - Filed November 12, 2020; March 3, 2021,
  read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
  April 8, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 9,
  Nays 0; April 8, 2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the time for rendering a final order in certain suits
  affecting the parent-child relationship involving the Department
  of Family and Protective Services.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter E, Chapter 263, Family Code, is
  amended by adding Section 263.4011 to read as follows:
         Sec. 263.4011.  RENDERING FINAL ORDER; EXTENSION. (a) On
  timely commencement of the trial on the merits under Section
  263.401, the court shall render a final order not later than the
  90th day after the date the trial commences.
         (b)  The 90-day period for rendering a final order under
  Subsection (a) is not tolled for any recess during the trial.
         (c)  If the court finds that extraordinary circumstances
  necessitate extending the 90-day period under Subsection (a), the
  court may grant one extension of that date for not longer than 30
  days. The court shall render a written order:
               (1)  specifying the grounds on which the extension is
  granted; and
               (2)  requiring a final order to be rendered not later
  than the 30th day after the date the extension is granted.
         (d)  A party may file a mandamus proceeding if the court
  fails to render a final order within the time required by this
  section.
         SECTION 2.  Section 263.4011, Family Code, as added by this
  Act, applies only to a suit affecting the parent-child relationship
  filed on or after the effective date of this Act. A suit affecting
  the parent-child relationship filed before that date is governed by
  the law in effect on the date the suit was filed, and that law is
  continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
 
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