PROPOSED LEGISLATIVE BILL AMENDMENT
FOR SENATE BILL
By: ________ of the
Senate
and
(add all the
additional senator names
who support this bill
amendment GO here)
S.B.
No. _______(to be assigned)
SECTION 1. Section _, Chapter 25, Title 6, Section 25.03 (S.B. _____) is amended to
read as follows:
An Act relating to interference with child custody; amending Title
6, Chapter 25, OFFENSES AGAINST THE FAMILY, Section 25.03 INTERFERENCE WITH
CHILD CUSTODY, which relates to interference with custodial rights of parents
and guardians.
BE IN ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE
OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. AMENDATORY _________, Section ______, [Need this section out of the
Vernon’s Texas Civil Statutes – The Senator who decides to support this Bill
will send this to the appropriate people to put this in here.] is
amended to read as follows:
SECTION 2: Section 25.03 INTERFERENCE WITH
CHILD CUSTODY is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 25.03. INTERFERENCE WITH CHILD
CUSTODY. (b) A person or parent commits an offense if the person or
parent retains a child younger than 18 years of age:
(1) when the person knows that the person’s
taking or retention violates the express terms of a judgment or order,
including a temporary order, of a court disposing of the child’s custody;
(2) when the
person has not been awarded custody of the child by a court of competent
jurisdiction, knows that a suit for divorce or a civil suit or application for
habeas corpus to dispose of the child's custody has been filed, and takes the
child out of the geographic area of the counties composing the judicial
district if the court is a district court or the county if the court is a
statutory county court, without the permission of the court, without a
valid court order giving express permission, or without the permission of the
other parent in writing, and with the intent to deprive the other
parent of the child or the court of authority over the child; or
(3) outside of the United States with the intent
to deprive a person entitled to possession of or access to the child of that
possession or access and without the permission of that person.
(b) A noncustodial parent or person commits
an offense if, with the intent to interfere with the lawful custody of a child
younger than 18 years, the noncustodial parent or person knowingly
entices or persuades the child to leave the custody of the custodial parent,
guardian, or person standing in the stead of the custodial parent entitled
to custody at that time or guardian of the child entitled to custody at
that time.
(c) It is a defense to prosecution under
Subsection (a)(2) that the actor returned the child to the geographic area of
the counties composing the judicial district if the court is a district court
or the county if the court is a statutory county court, within three days
2 hours after the date of the commission of the offense and has
provided in writing to the parent entitled to the time the parent interfered with
makeup time of like quality and time.
(c-1) It is an affirmative defense to prosecution
under Subsection (a)(3) that:
(1)
the taking or retention of the child was pursuant to a valid order
providing for possession of or access to the child; or
(2) notwithstanding any violation of a valid
order providing for possession of or access to the child, the actor's
retention of the child was due only to circumstances beyond the actor's
control and the actor promptly provided notice or made reasonable attempts to
provide notice of those circumstances to the other person entitled to
possession of or access to the child.
(c-2) Subsection (a)(3) does not apply if, at the
time of the offense, the person taking or retaining the child:
(1)
was entitled to possession of or access to the child; and
(2)
was fleeing the commission or attempted commission of family violence,
as defined by Section 71.004, Family Code, against the child or the person
and the person taking or retaining the child filed notice of the family
violence with the court and has scheduled or attempted to schedule a hearing
within 10 days of the retaining of the child, and proper charges have been
filed regarding these allegations.
(2-a)
The parent fleeing with the child has 10 days to get an emergency hearing
scheduled to be heard on the family violence allegation. If no emergency order
is issued then the child must be returned to the parent whose possession time
was violated with makeup time immediately of like quality and amount of time that
the parent lost. If the fleeing parent refuses to sign an agreement with the
other parent for this makeup time then the fleeing parent shall be subject to
arrest and prosecution for interference with child custody.
(3) the failure to surrender the child
to the other parent was out of the parent or person’s control in possession of
the child. A child refusing to go to the other parent is not a valid defense
and does not qualify.
(d) An offense under this section is a state jail
felony. It is not an affirmative defense that the person is the other
parent as long as the complaining parent or person has a court order showing
that the parent in possession of the child is not entitled to possession of
the child during that time.
(c-3) It is not
an affirmative defense that the child is refusing to go to the other parent or
that the taking or retaining parent or person cannot get the child to go to
the other parent.
SECTION 3. EFFECT OF ACT. (a) This Act
prevails over any other Act of the 84th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2015, regardless of the relative dates of enactment, that purports to
define or re-define the rights of each parent-child individual family unit. notwithstanding
any provision of law to the contrary, the provisions of this article apply to
any statute, agency rule, or local ordinance and the implementation of such
statute, agency rule, or local ordinance.
SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes
effect on August 30, 2017 if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the
members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas
Constitution. If this Act does not
receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect
September 1, 2017.
SECTION 5: BILL SUMMARY: Bill Summary
(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does not reflect any
amendments that may be subsequently adopted. If this bill passes third reading
in the house of introduction, a bill summary that applies to the re-engrossed
version of this bill will be available at http://www.tdi.texas.gov/reports/leg/85bills/billsummary.html.)
The bill amends provisions relating to INTERFERENCE WITH CHILD CUSTODY in the
penal code. With respect to such actions, the bill: supports the legislative
declaration to emphasize that judges should protect parenting time so that the
child may have the security in knowing that they are free to be with and love
both parents unless there has been a proper adjudication contrary to that
presumption, regardless of divorce. This amended bill is to assist in
maintaining the parent-child bond and relationship and to prevent parents from
avoiding child abduction and interference laws just because they are one of the
parents. This is also to strengthen the assistance, reduce the bias, reduce the
expense on a parent trying to enforce their custodial rights, and reduce delays
and eliminate the reluctance that parents get from law enforcement and courts
in enforcing their custodial time with their child. SENATE SPONSORSHIP
__________, HOUSE SPONSORSHIP ______________, Shading denotes HOUSE amendment.
Double underlining denotes SENATE amendment. Capital letters indicate new
material to be added to existing statute. Dashes through the words indicate
deletions from existing statute. Underlining indicates material that was added
to the existing statute last amended in 2011.