HBA-LJP H.B. 1246 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1246 By: Goodman Juvenile Justice & Family Issues 2/25/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, there are no provisions regulating an agreement between a gestational mother and the intended parents. Without regulation of these agreements, the legal parent-child relationships of a child of a gestational agreement may be unclear. House Bill 1246 sets forth provisions establishing procedures for gestational agreements. 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. ANALYSIS House Bill 1246 amends the Family Code to provide that this bill only takes effect if the 77th Legislature enacts the bill adopting the Uniform Parentage Act (SECTION 3). The bill authorizes an agreement between a woman and the intended parents of a child in which the woman relinquishes all rights as a parent of a child conceived by means of assisted reproduction and that provides that the intended parents become the parents of the child (Sec. 160.752). The bill authorizes each intended parent, a prospective gestational mother and her husband if she is married, and each donor to enter into a gestational agreement. The bill provides that the intended parents must be married to each other. The bill also sets forth guidelines of a gestational agreement and provides that the agreement does not apply to the birth of a child conceived by means of sexual intercourse (Sec. 160.755). The bill provides that an intended parent is authorized to maintain a proceeding to adjudicate parentage to confirm the mother-child relationship or father-child relationship between a person and a child born to a gestational mother under the terms of a validated or enforceable gestational agreement (Secs. 160.753 and 160.754). If a gestational mother is married after the validation of a gestational agreement, then the bill provides that while the agreement remains valid, the gestational mother's husband is not required to consent to the agreement and is not presumed to be the father of the child born under the terms of the agreement (Sec. 160.762). The bill sets forth provisions for a proceeding that validates or enforces a gestational agreement, and provides for the termination of a gestational agreement (Secs. 160.756, 160.757, and 160.760). A court that conducts the proceeding has continuing and exclusive jurisdiction on all matters relating to the gestational agreement until the date a child born to the gestational mother under the agreement reaches 180 days of age (Sec. 160.759). The bill requires the intended parents to file a notice of the birth of a child to a gestational mother with the court not later than the 300th day after the date assisted reproduction occurred. After the court receives the notice, the bill requires the court to render an order that: _confirms that the intended parents are the child's parents; _requires the gestational mother to surrender the child to the intended parents, if necessary; and _requires the bureau of vital statistics to issue a birth certificate naming the intended parents as the child's parents. The bill also requires the court to order scientifically accepted parentage testing to determine the child's parentage if a person alleges that a child born to a gestational mother did not result from assisted reproduction (Sec. 160.761). The bill provides that an intended parent with an invalidated or unenforceable gestational agreement may be held liable for the support of the child born under the terms of the agreement. The bill authorizes the court to assess fees and other related expenses incurred in a proceeding of a gestational agreement and authorizes an attorney who is awarded attorneys' fees to enforce the order in the attorney's own name (Sec. 160.763). The bill provides that the proceedings, records, and identities of the parties to a gestational agreement are subject to inspection under the same standards of confidentiality that apply to an adoption (Sec. 160.758). EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.