By: Paxton  S.B. No. 718
         (In the Senate - Filed February 6, 2023; March 1, 2023, read
  first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
  March 13, 2023, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 9,
  Nays 0; March 13, 2023, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to additional periods of possession of or access to a child
  to compensate for denial of court-ordered possession or access.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 157.168, Family Code, is amended to read
  as follows:
         Sec. 157.168.  ADDITIONAL PERIODS OF POSSESSION OR ACCESS.
  (a)  Unless a party shows good cause why the order should not be
  rendered, a [A] court shall [may] order additional periods of
  possession of or access to a child to compensate for the denial of
  court-ordered possession or access, including when the denial
  resulted from an investigation by the Department of Family and
  Protective Services that did not result in a finding of abuse or
  neglect.
         (a-1)  The additional periods of possession or access:
               (1)  must be of the same type and duration of the
  possession or access that was denied;
               (2)  may include weekend, holiday, and summer
  possession or access; and
               (3)  must occur on or before the second anniversary of
  the date the court finds that court-ordered possession or access
  has been denied.
         (b)  The person denied possession or access is entitled to
  decide the time of the additional possession or access, subject to
  the provisions of Subsection (a-1)(1) [(a)(1)].
         SECTION 2.  The enactment of this Act does not constitute a
  material and substantial change of circumstances sufficient to
  warrant modification of a court order or portion of a decree that
  provides for the possession of or access to a child rendered before
  the effective date of this Act.
         SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
  to a suit affecting the parent-child relationship pending before a
  trial court on or filed on or after the effective date of this Act.
  A suit affecting the parent-child relationship in which a final
  order is rendered before the effective date of this Act is governed
  by the law in effect on the date the order was rendered, and the
  former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
 
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