By: Dutton H.B. No. 545
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the enforcement of an order to pay child support by
contempt.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 157.162, Family Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) If a respondent appears at the hearing for failure to
pay child support with a copy of the payment record or other
evidence satisfactory to the court showing that the respondent is
current in the payment of child support as ordered by the court, the
court may hold the respondent in contempt but may not punish the
respondent by confinement unless, in the 24 months preceding the
date of the hearing, the respondent has been held in contempt of
court for failure to pay child support.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies to a
hearing to enforce an order in a suit affecting the parent-child
relationship that commences on or after the effective date of this
Act. A hearing that commences before the effective date of this Act
is governed by the law in effect on the date the hearing commenced,
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, 2015.