By: RodrÃguez S.B. No. 817
(Thompson of Harris)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the issuance of a protective order and the appointment
of a managing conservator in certain family law proceedings.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 71.0021(a), Family Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) "Dating violence" means an act, other than a defensive
measure to protect oneself, by an actor that:
(1) is committed against a victim or applicant for a
protective order:
(A) with whom the actor has or has had a dating
relationship; or
(B) because of the victim's or applicant's
marriage to or dating relationship with an individual with whom the
actor is or has been in a dating relationship or marriage; and
(2) is intended to result in physical harm, bodily
injury, assault, or sexual assault or that is a threat that
reasonably places the victim or applicant in fear of imminent
physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault.
SECTION 2. Section 71.004, Family Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 71.004. FAMILY VIOLENCE. "Family violence" means:
(1) an act by a member of a family or household against
another member of the family or household that is intended to result
in physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault or that
is a threat that reasonably places the member in fear of imminent
physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault, but does
not include defensive measures to protect oneself;
(2) abuse, as that term is defined by Sections
261.001(1)(C), (E), [and] (G), (H), (I), (J), and (K), by a member
of a family or household toward a child of the family or household;
or
(3) dating violence, as that term is defined by
Section 71.0021.
SECTION 3. Section 153.005, Family Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to read as
follows:
(a) In a suit, except as provided by Section 153.004, the
court:
(1) may appoint a sole managing conservator or may
appoint joint managing conservators; and
(2) if[. If] the parents are or will be separated,
[the court] shall appoint at least one managing conservator.
(c) In making an appointment authorized by this section, the
court shall consider whether, preceding the filing of the suit or
during the pendency of the suit:
(1) a party engaged in a history or pattern of family
violence, as defined by Section 71.004;
(2) a party engaged in a history or pattern of child
abuse or child neglect; or
(3) a final protective order was rendered against a
party.
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act to Sections
71.0021 and 71.004, Family Code, apply only to a request for a
protective order that is filed on or after the effective date of
this Act. A request for a protective order filed before the
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
date the request is filed, and the former law is continued in effect
for that purpose.
SECTION 5. Section 153.005, Family Code, as amended by this
Act, applies only to a suit affecting the parent-child relationship
filed on or after the effective date of this Act. A suit affecting
the parent-child relationship filed before the effective date of
this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the suit is
filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.