HBA-GUM C.S.H.B. 2990 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2990
By: Davis, John
Juvenile Justice & Family Issues
4/14/1999
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, makeup visitation which is awarded by a judge based upon a
previous violation of courtordered possession of or access to a child must
be made up within a one year period.  In some cases, such as making up
Christmas or another holiday, it may be that the non-custodial parent had
already been granted the following holiday.  As a result, the visitation
could not be made up because the next holiday was more than one year after
the denied possession.  In addition, the denied visitation may be difficult
to make up within one year without giving exclusive possession of the child
to the noncustodial parent, which judges may not be willing to do.
C.S.H.B. 2990 provides that additional periods of possession of or access
to a child must be made up within a two-year period, rather than a one-year
period.  

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 Section 157.168(a), Family Code, to provide that
additional periods of possession of or access to a child granted as
compensation for the denial of court-ordered possession or access must
occur on or before the second, rather than the first, anniversary of the
date the court finds such a denial has occurred. 

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

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

The substitute modifies the original by redesignating SECTION 2 of the
original to SECTION 1. The substitute deletes SECTION 1 of the original,
which requires the court, upon finding that a respondent has interfered
with the court's order for possession of or access to a child, to order the
respondent to pay the movant's attorney's fees and court costs. 

In addition, the substitute modifies the original by redesignating SECTIONS
3 (effective date) and 4 (emergency clause) of the original to SECTIONS 2
and 3, respectively.