Posted by Michelle May O’Neil on May 31, 2011
This Legislative Action Update was posted the Texas Family Law Foundation site yesterday by Gary Nickelson.
The 2011 Regular Session of the Texas Legislature expired at midnight May 30th. Whew! That was a lot of work by a lot of people.
It’s great that 10 of the 11 bills of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Texas have passed both houses. Of those, 6 have already been signed into law by Governor Rick Perry. Here are those bills and their effective dates:
- HB 841 – State agency name updated to DFPS – effective immediately
- HB 905 – Admissibility of child hearsay – effective September 1, 2011
- HB 906 – Indigent client appeals in SAPCRs – effective September 1, 2011
- HB 1404 – Military deployments and kids – effective September 1, 2011
- SB 785 – Mistaken paternity – effective May 12, 2011
- SB 820 – Possession of very young kids – effective September 1, 2011
Regarding the other four bills, the Governor has until midnight June 19th to sign, veto or allow to them to go into effect without his signature. Those bills and their effective dates – if they become law – are:
- HB 901 – Spousal maintenance update – effective September 1, 2011
- HB 908 – Remedy for fraud on the community – effective September 1, 2011
- SB 789 – Extended protective orders – effective September 1, 2011
- SB 819 – Dating/family violence protective orders – effective September 1, 2011
We regret losing HB 910, which allows single people to use gestational agreements. We made headway again, but we’re just not there – yet.
The Texas Family Law Foundation will continue to report to Texas Family Lawyers on the legislative session, as long as there are bills alive down in Austin.