HBA-SEB S.B. 1394 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 1394
By: Brown, Buster
Juvenile Justice and Family Issues
5/10/1999
Engrossed



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, an order for possession of a child does not typically include
specific provisions regarding access to the child over the telephone.  S.B.
1394 requires a court, on the request of a joint managing conservator or
possessory conservator, to include in a possession order that the
conservator shall have access to the child on the telephone during a
specific time each week.  This bill also requires the court to order the
child's managing conservator to have a telephone answering device or
service to receive or record messages from the possessory conservator. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Subchapter F, Chapter 153, Family Code, by adding
Section 153.318, as follows: 

Sec. 153.318.  TELEPHONE ACCESS.  Requires a court, on the request of the
joint managing conservator or possessory conservator, to include in a
possession order that a conservator shall have access to a child on the
telephone during a specified time each week. Requires the order to specify
the day of the week for the telephone access, the time that the child must
be made available for the telephone access, and the procedure the managing
conservator must follow if the child will be unavailable during the
designated time for telephone access.  Requires the court to order the
child's managing conservator to have a telephone answering device or
service to receive or record messages from the possessory conservator in
addition to the weekly telephone access, unless the managing conservator
can show that this requirement would cause undue financial hardship. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date:  September 1, 1999.
  Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.