Bill Text: TX SB1269 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Comm Sub
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Relating to admissibility and disclosure of certain evidence in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship filed by the Department of Family and Protective Services.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-05-22 - Postponed 4/21/24 10:00 AM [SB1269 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SB1269-Comm_Sub.html
Bill Title: Relating to admissibility and disclosure of certain evidence in a suit affecting the parent-child relationship filed by the Department of Family and Protective Services.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-05-22 - Postponed 4/21/24 10:00 AM [SB1269 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-SB1269-Comm_Sub.html
By: Hughes | S.B. No. 1269 | |
(In the Senate - Filed February 27, 2023; March 9, 2023, | ||
read first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs; | ||
March 31, 2023, reported adversely, with favorable Committee | ||
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 9, Nays 0; March 31, 2023, | ||
sent to printer.) | ||
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1269 | By: Paxton |
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relating to admissibility and disclosure of certain evidence in a | ||
suit affecting the parent-child relationship filed by the | ||
Department of Family and Protective Services. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Chapter 104, Family Code, is amended by | ||
designating Sections 104.001 through 104.008 as Subchapter A and | ||
adding a subchapter heading to read as follows: | ||
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS | ||
SECTION 2. Chapter 104, Family Code, is amended by adding | ||
Subchapter B to read as follows: | ||
SUBCHAPTER B. SUITS FILED BY DEPARTMENT OF FAMILY AND PROTECTIVE | ||
SERVICES | ||
Sec. 104.101. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "department" | ||
means the Department of Family and Protective Services. | ||
Sec. 104.102. STATEMENT BY INDIVIDUAL UNDERGOING SUBSTANCE | ||
USE DISORDER TREATMENT OR EVALUATION. In a suit affecting the | ||
parent-child relationship filed by the department concerning a | ||
child who is alleged in the suit to have been abused or neglected, a | ||
statement made by an individual undergoing voluntary or | ||
court-ordered treatment for a substance use disorder, or undergoing | ||
an evaluation for admission to treatment for a substance use | ||
disorder, is not admissible for use against the individual if the | ||
statement was made to any person involved in the individual's | ||
treatment or evaluation. | ||
Sec. 104.103. STATEMENT BY INDIVIDUAL UNDERGOING MENTAL | ||
HEALTH TREATMENT OR EVALUATION. In a suit affecting the | ||
parent-child relationship filed by the department concerning a | ||
child who is alleged in the suit to have been abused or neglected, a | ||
statement made by an individual undergoing voluntary or | ||
court-ordered therapeutic treatment for a mental illness, or | ||
undergoing a psychological or psychiatric evaluation for that | ||
treatment, is not admissible for use against the individual if the | ||
statement was made to any person involved in the individual's | ||
treatment or evaluation. | ||
Sec. 104.104. STATEMENT BY PERSON REQUIRED TO REPORT ABUSE | ||
OR NEGLECT OF CHILD. In a suit affecting the parent-child | ||
relationship filed by the department concerning a child who is | ||
alleged in the suit to have been abused or neglected, an | ||
out-of-court statement regarding the alleged abuse or neglect made | ||
to the department under Subchapter B, Chapter 261, is not | ||
admissible into evidence at any evidentiary proceeding unless the | ||
statement can be independently corroborated by other evidence. | ||
SECTION 3. Section 262.014, Family Code, is amended to read | ||
as follows: | ||
Sec. 262.014. DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE. The [ |
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Family and Protective Services shall, not later than the seventh | ||
day before the date of the full adversary hearing, provide to each | ||
party: | ||
(1) the name of any person, excluding a department | ||
employee, whom the department will call as a witness to any of the | ||
allegations contained in the petition filed by the department and | ||
any witness statement provided by the person; | ||
(2) a copy of any offense report relating to the | ||
allegations contained in the petition filed by the department that | ||
will be used in court to refresh a witness's memory; [ |
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(3) a copy of any photograph, video, or recording that | ||
will be presented as evidence; | ||
(4) a copy of any report submitted to the department by | ||
a medical provider with the forensic assessment center network | ||
regarding a child who is the subject of the suit; | ||
(5) all exculpatory, impeachment, or mitigating | ||
evidence in the possession, custody, or control of the department | ||
or its agent that: | ||
(A) is relevant to a parent who is a party in the | ||
suit; and | ||
(B) tends to negate any claim of abuse or neglect | ||
of a child by the parent; and | ||
(6) a true and correct copy of the department's | ||
investigative file, including the intake report with only the name | ||
of the reporting party redacted. | ||
SECTION 4. The change in law made by this Act applies to a | ||
suit affecting the parent-child relationship filed by the | ||
Department of Family and Protective Services on or after the | ||
effective date of this Act. A suit affecting the parent-child | ||
relationship filed by the department before the effective date of | ||
this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the suit was | ||
filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. | ||
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. | ||
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