Bill Text: TX HB1663 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to certain statutory changes to reflect and address same-sex marriages and parenting relationships.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-03-22 - Left pending in committee [HB1663 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HB1663-Introduced.html

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85R4196 KSD-D
By: Dutton H.B. No. 1663

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to certain statutory changes to reflect and address
same-sex marriages and parenting relationships.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
ARTICLE 1. FAMILY CODE PROVISIONS
SECTION 1.01. Subchapter A, Chapter 1, Family Code, is
amended by adding Section 1.0015 to read as follows:
Sec. 1.0015. CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER-SPECIFIC TERMINOLOGY.
When necessary to implement the rights and duties of spouses or
parents in a marriage between persons of the same sex under the laws
of this state, gender-specific terminology must be construed in a
neutral manner to refer to a person of either gender.
SECTION 1.02. Section 2.001(a), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) Two individuals [A man and a woman] desiring to enter
into a ceremonial marriage must obtain a marriage license from the
county clerk of any county of this state.
SECTION 1.03. Section 2.004(b), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) The application form must contain:
(1) a heading entitled "Application for Marriage
License, ____________ County, Texas";
(2) spaces for each applicant's full name, including
the [woman's maiden] surname of an applicant intending to change
the applicant's surname as a result of the marriage, address,
social security number, if any, date of birth, and place of birth,
including city, county, and state;
(3) a space for indicating the document tendered by
each applicant as proof of identity and age;
(4) spaces for indicating whether each applicant has
been divorced within the last 30 days;
(5) printed boxes for each applicant to check "true"
or "false" in response to the following statement: "I am not
presently married and the other applicant is not presently
married.";
(6) printed boxes for each applicant to check "true"
or "false" in response to the following statement: "The other
applicant is not related to me as:
(A) an ancestor or descendant, by blood or
adoption;
(B) a brother or sister, of the whole or half
blood or by adoption;
(C) a parent's brother or sister, of the whole or
half blood or by adoption;
(D) a son or daughter of a brother or sister, of
the whole or half blood or by adoption;
(E) a current or former stepchild or stepparent;
or
(F) a son or daughter of a parent's brother or
sister, of the whole or half blood or by adoption.";
(7) printed boxes for each applicant to check "true"
or "false" in response to the following statement: "I am not
presently delinquent in the payment of court-ordered child
support.";
(8) a printed oath reading: "I SOLEMNLY SWEAR (OR
AFFIRM) THAT THE INFORMATION I HAVE GIVEN IN THIS APPLICATION IS
CORRECT.";
(9) spaces immediately below the printed oath for the
applicants' signatures;
(10) a certificate of the county clerk that:
(A) each applicant made the oath and the date and
place that it was made; or
(B) an applicant did not appear personally but
the prerequisites for the license have been fulfilled as provided
by this chapter;
(11) spaces for indicating the date of the marriage
and the county in which the marriage is performed;
(12) a space for the address to which the applicants
desire the completed license to be mailed; and
(13) a printed box for each applicant to check
indicating that the applicant wishes to make a voluntary
contribution of $5 to promote healthy early childhood by supporting
the Texas Home Visiting Program administered by the Office of Early
Childhood Coordination of the Health and Human Services Commission.
SECTION 1.04. Section 2.401(a), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) In a judicial, administrative, or other proceeding, the
marriage of two individuals [a man and woman] may be proved by
evidence that:
(1) a declaration of their marriage has been signed as
provided by this subchapter; or
(2) the individuals [man and woman] agreed to be
married and after the agreement they lived together in this state as
spouses [husband and wife] and there represented to others that
they were married.
SECTION 1.05. Section 2.402(b), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) The declaration form must contain:
(1) a heading entitled "Declaration and Registration
of Informal Marriage, ___________ County, Texas";
(2) spaces for each party's full name, including the
[woman's maiden] surname of a party intending to change the party's
surname as a result of the marriage, address, date of birth, place
of birth, including city, county, and state, and social security
number, if any;
(3) a space for indicating the type of document
tendered by each party as proof of age and identity;
(4) printed boxes for each party to check "true" or
"false" in response to the following statement: "The other party
is not related to me as:
(A) an ancestor or descendant, by blood or
adoption;
(B) a brother or sister, of the whole or half
blood or by adoption;
(C) a parent's brother or sister, of the whole or
half blood or by adoption;
(D) a son or daughter of a brother or sister, of
the whole or half blood or by adoption;
(E) a current or former stepchild or stepparent;
or
(F) a son or daughter of a parent's brother or
sister, of the whole or half blood or by adoption.";
(5) a printed declaration and oath reading: "I
SOLEMNLY SWEAR (OR AFFIRM) THAT WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, ARE MARRIED TO
EACH OTHER BY VIRTUE OF THE FOLLOWING FACTS: ON OR ABOUT (DATE) WE
AGREED TO BE MARRIED, AND AFTER THAT DATE WE LIVED TOGETHER AS
SPOUSES [HUSBAND AND WIFE] AND IN THIS STATE WE REPRESENTED TO
OTHERS THAT WE WERE MARRIED. SINCE THE DATE OF MARRIAGE TO THE
OTHER PARTY I HAVE NOT BEEN MARRIED TO ANY OTHER PERSON. THIS
DECLARATION IS TRUE AND THE INFORMATION IN IT WHICH I HAVE GIVEN IS
CORRECT.";
(6) spaces immediately below the printed declaration
and oath for the parties' signatures; and
(7) a certificate of the county clerk that the parties
made the declaration and oath and the place and date it was made.
SECTION 1.06. Section 3.401, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subdivision (1) and amending Subdivisions (4) and (5) to
read as follows:
(1) "Civil union" means any relationship status other
than marriage that:
(A) is intended as an alternative to marriage or
applies primarily to cohabitating persons; and
(B) grants to the parties of the relationship
legal protections, benefits, or responsibilities granted to the
spouses of a marriage.
(4) "Marital estate" means one of three estates:
(A) the community property owned by the spouses
together and referred to as the community marital estate; or
(B) the separate property owned individually by
each spouse [the husband] and referred to as a separate marital
estate[; or
[(C) the separate property owned individually by
the wife, also referred to as a separate marital estate].
(5) "Spouse" means one of the two individuals who are
the parties to:
(A) a marriage; or
(B) [a husband, who is a man, or a wife, who is a
woman. A member of] a civil union [or similar relationship] entered
into in another state [between persons of the same sex is not a
spouse].
SECTION 1.07. Section 6.104(b), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) In exercising its discretion, the court shall consider
the pertinent facts concerning the welfare of the parties to the
marriage, including whether a spouse [the female] is pregnant.
SECTION 1.08. Section 6.202(b), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) The later marriage that is void under this section
becomes valid when the prior marriage is dissolved if, after the
date of the dissolution, the parties have lived together as spouses
[husband and wife] and represented themselves to others as being
married.
SECTION 1.09. Section 6.203, Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 6.203. CERTAIN VOID MARRIAGES VALIDATED. Except for a
marriage that would have been void under Section 6.201, a marriage
that was entered into before January 1, 1970, in violation of the
prohibitions of Article 496, Penal Code of Texas, 1925, is
validated from the date the marriage commenced if the parties
continued until January 1, 1970, to live together as spouses
[husband and wife] and to represent themselves to others as being
married.
SECTION 1.10. Section 6.704, Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 6.704. TESTIMONY OF SPOUSE [HUSBAND OR WIFE]. (a) In
a suit for dissolution of a marriage, each spouse is a [the husband
and wife are] competent witness [witnesses] for and against the
[each] other spouse. A spouse may not be compelled to testify as to
a matter that will incriminate the spouse.
(b) If a spouse [the husband or wife] testifies, the court
or jury trying the case shall determine the credibility of the
witness and the weight to be given the witness's testimony.
SECTION 1.11. Chapter 51, Family Code, is amended by adding
Section 51.015 to read as follows:
Sec. 51.015. CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER-SPECIFIC TERMINOLOGY.
When necessary to implement the rights and duties of spouses or
parents in a marriage between persons of the same sex under the laws
of this state, gender-specific terminology must be construed in a
neutral manner to refer to a person of either gender.
SECTION 1.12. Chapter 101, Family Code, is amended by
adding Section 101.0012 to read as follows:
Sec. 101.0012. CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER-SPECIFIC
TERMINOLOGY. When necessary to implement the rights and duties of
spouses or parents in a marriage between persons of the same sex
under the laws of this state, gender-specific terminology must be
construed in a neutral manner to refer to a person of either gender.
SECTION 1.13. Section 101.024(a), Family Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) "Parent" means the mother, a man presumed to be the
father, an individual [a man] legally determined to be a parent [the
father], an individual [a man] who has been adjudicated to be a
parent [the father] by a court of competent jurisdiction, a man who
has acknowledged his parentage [paternity] under applicable law, or
an adoptive mother or father. Except as provided by Subsection (b),
the term does not include a parent as to whom the parent-child
relationship has been terminated.
SECTION 1.14. Section 108.009(b), Family Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) The new certificate may not show that a parent-child
[the father and child] relationship was established after the
child's birth but may show the child's actual place and date of
birth.
SECTION 1.15. Section 152.310(d), Family Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(d) A privilege against disclosure of communications
between spouses and a defense of immunity based on the relationship
of spouses [husband and wife] or parent and child may not be invoked
in a proceeding under this subchapter.
SECTION 1.16. Section 153.312(b), Family Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) The following provisions govern possession of the child
for vacations and certain specific holidays and supersede
conflicting weekend or Thursday periods of possession. The
possessory conservator and the managing conservator shall have
rights of possession of the child as follows:
(1) the possessory conservator shall have possession
in even-numbered years, beginning at 6 p.m. on the day the child is
dismissed from school for the school's spring vacation and ending
at 6 p.m. on the day before school resumes after that vacation, and
the managing conservator shall have possession for the same period
in odd-numbered years;
(2) if a possessory conservator:
(A) gives the managing conservator written
notice by April 1 of each year specifying an extended period or
periods of summer possession, the possessory conservator shall have
possession of the child for 30 days beginning not earlier than the
day after the child's school is dismissed for the summer vacation
and ending not later than seven days before school resumes at the
end of the summer vacation, to be exercised in not more than two
separate periods of at least seven consecutive days each, with each
period of possession beginning and ending at 6 p.m. on each
applicable day; or
(B) does not give the managing conservator
written notice by April 1 of each year specifying an extended period
or periods of summer possession, the possessory conservator shall
have possession of the child for 30 consecutive days beginning at 6
p.m. on July 1 and ending at 6 p.m. on July 31;
(3) if the managing conservator gives the possessory
conservator written notice by April 15 of each year, the managing
conservator shall have possession of the child on any one weekend
beginning Friday at 6 p.m. and ending at 6 p.m. on the following
Sunday during one period of possession by the possessory
conservator under Subdivision (2), provided that the managing
conservator picks up the child from the possessory conservator and
returns the child to that same place; and
(4) if the managing conservator gives the possessory
conservator written notice by April 15 of each year or gives the
possessory conservator 14 days' written notice on or after April 16
of each year, the managing conservator may designate one weekend
beginning not earlier than the day after the child's school is
dismissed for the summer vacation and ending not later than seven
days before school resumes at the end of the summer vacation, during
which an otherwise scheduled weekend period of possession by the
possessory conservator will not take place, provided that the
weekend designated does not interfere with the possessory
conservator's period or periods of extended summer possession or
with Father's Day if the possessory conservator is a [the] father of
the child who is entitled to possession of the child for Father's
Day weekend that year.
SECTION 1.17. Sections 153.313 and 153.314, Family Code,
are amended to read as follows:
Sec. 153.313. PARENTS WHO RESIDE OVER 100 MILES APART. If
the possessory conservator resides more than 100 miles from the
residence of the child, the possessory conservator shall have the
right to possession of the child as follows:
(1) either regular weekend possession beginning on the
first, third, and fifth Friday as provided under the terms
applicable to parents who reside 100 miles or less apart or not more
than one weekend per month of the possessory conservator's choice
beginning at 6 p.m. on the day school recesses for the weekend and
ending at 6 p.m. on the day before school resumes after the weekend,
provided that the possessory conservator gives the managing
conservator 14 days' written or telephonic notice preceding a
designated weekend, and provided that the possessory conservator
elects an option for this alternative period of possession by
written notice given to the managing conservator within 90 days
after the parties begin to reside more than 100 miles apart, as
applicable;
(2) each year beginning at 6 p.m. on the day the child
is dismissed from school for the school's spring vacation and
ending at 6 p.m. on the day before school resumes after that
vacation;
(3) if the possessory conservator:
(A) gives the managing conservator written
notice by April 1 of each year specifying an extended period or
periods of summer possession, the possessory conservator shall have
possession of the child for 42 days beginning not earlier than the
day after the child's school is dismissed for the summer vacation
and ending not later than seven days before school resumes at the
end of the summer vacation, to be exercised in not more than two
separate periods of at least seven consecutive days each, with each
period of possession beginning and ending at 6 p.m. on each
applicable day; or
(B) does not give the managing conservator
written notice by April 1 of each year specifying an extended period
or periods of summer possession, the possessory conservator shall
have possession of the child for 42 consecutive days beginning at 6
p.m. on June 15 and ending at 6 p.m. on July 27;
(4) if the managing conservator gives the possessory
conservator written notice by April 15 of each year the managing
conservator shall have possession of the child on one weekend
beginning Friday at 6 p.m. and ending at 6 p.m. on the following
Sunday during one period of possession by the possessory
conservator under Subdivision (3), provided that if a period of
possession by the possessory conservator exceeds 30 days, the
managing conservator may have possession of the child under the
terms of this subdivision on two nonconsecutive weekends during
that time period, and further provided that the managing
conservator picks up the child from the possessory conservator and
returns the child to that same place; and
(5) if the managing conservator gives the possessory
conservator written notice by April 15 of each year, the managing
conservator may designate 21 days beginning not earlier than the
day after the child's school is dismissed for the summer vacation
and ending not later than seven days before school resumes at the
end of the summer vacation, to be exercised in not more than two
separate periods of at least seven consecutive days each, with each
period of possession beginning and ending at 6 p.m. on each
applicable day, during which the possessory conservator may not
have possession of the child, provided that the period or periods so
designated do not interfere with the possessory conservator's
period or periods of extended summer possession or with Father's
Day if the possessory conservator is a [the] father of the child who
is entitled to possession of the child for Father's Day weekend that
year.
Sec. 153.314. HOLIDAY POSSESSION UNAFFECTED BY DISTANCE
PARENTS RESIDE APART. The following provisions govern possession
of the child for certain specific holidays and supersede
conflicting weekend or Thursday periods of possession without
regard to the distance the parents reside apart. The possessory
conservator and the managing conservator shall have rights of
possession of the child as follows:
(1) the possessory conservator shall have possession
of the child in even-numbered years beginning at 6 p.m. on the day
the child is dismissed from school for the Christmas school
vacation and ending at noon on December 28, and the managing
conservator shall have possession for the same period in
odd-numbered years;
(2) the possessory conservator shall have possession
of the child in odd-numbered years beginning at noon on December 28
and ending at 6 p.m. on the day before school resumes after that
vacation, and the managing conservator shall have possession for
the same period in even-numbered years;
(3) the possessory conservator shall have possession
of the child in odd-numbered years, beginning at 6 p.m. on the day
the child is dismissed from school before Thanksgiving and ending
at 6 p.m. on the following Sunday, and the managing conservator
shall have possession for the same period in even-numbered years;
(4) the parent not otherwise entitled under this
standard possession order to present possession of a child on the
child's birthday shall have possession of the child beginning at 6
p.m. and ending at 8 p.m. on that day, provided that the parent
picks up the child from the residence of the conservator entitled to
possession and returns the child to that same place;
(5) if a conservator, the father shall have possession
of the child beginning at 6 p.m. on the Friday preceding Father's
Day and ending on Father's Day at 6 p.m., provided that, if he is not
otherwise entitled under this standard possession order to present
possession of the child, he picks up the child from the residence of
the conservator entitled to possession and returns the child to
that same place, except that if the child has two fathers appointed
as conservators, the managing conservator shall have possession of
the child for the period described by this subdivision in
even-numbered years and the possessory conservator shall have
possession of the child for that period in odd-numbered years; and
(6) if a conservator, the mother shall have possession
of the child beginning at 6 p.m. on the Friday preceding Mother's
Day and ending on Mother's Day at 6 p.m., provided that, if she is
not otherwise entitled under this standard possession order to
present possession of the child, she picks up the child from the
residence of the conservator entitled to possession and returns the
child to that same place, except that if the child has two mothers
appointed as conservators, the managing conservator shall have
possession of the child for the period described by this
subdivision in even-numbered years and the possessory conservator
shall have possession of the child for that period in odd-numbered
years.
SECTION 1.18. The following provisions of the Family Code
are repealed:
(1) Section 2.001(b); and
(2) Section 6.204.
SECTION 1.19. The change in law made by this article to
Section 108.009(b), Family Code, applies only to a new birth
certificate for a child born on or after the effective date of this
Act. A new birth certificate for a child born before that date is
governed by the law in effect on the date the child was born, and the
former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 1.20. The changes in law made by this article to
Sections 153.312(b), 153.313, and 153.314, Family Code, apply only
to a court order providing for possession of or access to a child
rendered on or after the effective date of this Act. A court order
rendered before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
law in effect on the date the order was rendered, and the former law
is continued in effect for that purpose.
ARTICLE 2. HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE PROVISIONS
SECTION 2.01. Section 191.0046(b), Health and Safety Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(b) The state registrar shall issue without fee a certified
copy of a record not otherwise prohibited by law to a veteran or to
the veteran's widow or widower, orphan, or other dependent if the
copy is for use in settling a claim against the government.
SECTION 2.02. Section 193.006(a), Health and Safety Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) This section applies to the death certificate of a
person who:
(1) served in a war, campaign, or expedition of the
United States, the Confederate States of America, or the Republic
of Texas;
(2) was the spouse, widower, [wife] or widow of a
person who served in a war, campaign, or expedition of the United
States, the Confederate States of America, or the Republic of
Texas; or
(3) at the time of death was in the service of the
United States.
SECTION 2.03. Section 574.045(d), Health and Safety Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(d) A female patient must be accompanied by a female
attendant unless the patient is accompanied by her father, spouse
[husband], or adult brother or son.
ARTICLE 3. EFFECTIVE DATE
SECTION 3.01. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.