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.