81R677 JSC-D
By: Dutton H.B. No. 947
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the periods of possession of a child to which the
child's managing conservator is entitled under a standard
possession order.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. 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; 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, after receiving notice under Subdivision
(2)(A), 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)(A), 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 the father of the
child.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act to Section
153.312, Family Code, applies 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.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately 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, 2009.