BILL ANALYSIS

H.B. 2671

By: Cook

Juvenile Justice & Family Issues

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

In some counties, courts will not schedule a temporary order hearing until mediation has taken place. This can postpone a hearing for several months. H.B. 2671 seeks to prohibit a court from postponing a hearing later than the 30th day after the date for a hearing is set with respect to certain motions for a temporary order.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

H.B. 2671 amends the Family Code to prohibit the court, as applicable, from postponing a hearing to a date later than the 30th day after the set hearing date under the following conditions:

· for a suit for dissolution of a marriage, if the court on its own motion refers to mediation such a suit in which a motion for a temporary order is pending; and

· for a suit affecting the parent-child relationship involving certain temporary orders for the safety and welfare of a child, if the court on its own motion refers a pending suit for mediation in which an initial hearing rendition of such a temporary order has not yet occurred.

The bill applies to a suit that is pending in a trial court on the bill's effective date or that is filed on or after that date.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2023.