BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 942

By: Hughes

Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The bill sponsor has informed the committee that data from the Texas Department of State Health Services indicates that the number of annual births to unwed mothers in Texas has remained relatively consistent over the past 20 years, with roughly 40 percent of all births each year in Texas corresponding to unwed mothers. Research from the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the Center for American Progress shows that unwed mothers face greater economic insecurity compared with married parents and are more likely to live below the poverty line. S.B. 942 seeks to help ameliorate the financial burdens borne by unwed mothers by ensuring that they can receive retroactive child support beginning on the earliest possible date of the child's conception and to provide for a court's authority to order payment, as additional retroactive child support, of an equitable portion of all prenatal and postnatal health care expenses of the mother and child.

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

S.B. 942 amends the Family Code to establish the presumption that it is reasonable and in the best interest of a child for a court, in determining the amount of any retroactive child support, to order the support for the child beginning on the earliest possible date of the child's conception as determined by the following:

· a physician using standard medical practice, defined by reference as the degree of skill, care, and diligence that an obstetrician of ordinary judgment, learning, and skill would employ in like circumstances; or

· a preponderance of other evidence presented to the court, including the testimony of a parent of the child.

The bill authorizes the court to order the obligor, on a proper showing, to pay, as additional retroactive child support, an equitable portion of all prenatal and postnatal health care expenses of the mother and the child. The bill requires the court to confirm the amount of retroactive child support and render a cumulative money judgment for the total amount of retroactive child support owed.

S.B. 942 replaces the authorization for a court, on a finding of parentage with respect to a father of a child, to order retroactive child support under statutory provisions governing child support and, on a proper showing, to order a party to pay an equitable portion of all of the prenatal and postnatal health care expenses of the mother and the child with the requirement for a court, if it renders an order under the Uniform Parentage Act establishing a man's paternity of the child or establishing a child support obligation of a man whose paternity has been established by the execution of a valid, voluntary acknowledgment of paternity in regard to the child, to order retroactive child support under provisions relating to such support, as amended by the bill, on the request of a party and on a proper showing. Accordingly, the bill repeals the requirement for a court, in rendering an order for retroactive child support on a finding of parentage, to use the child support guidelines, together with any relevant factors.

S.B. 942 establishes that its changes with respect to an order adjudicating paternity apply only to an order rendered on or after the bill's effective date. An order adjudicating paternity rendered before that date is governed by the law in effect on the date the order is rendered, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. The bill's changes with respect to an acknowledgement of paternity apply only to an acknowledgment of paternity executed on or after the bill's effective date. An acknowledgment of paternity executed before that date is governed by the law in effect on the date the acknowledgment is executed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.

S.B. 942 repeals Section 160.636(h), Family Code.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2025.