| 1 | 1 | | By: Jones of Harris (Senate Sponsor - West) H.B. No. 1695 |
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| 2 | 2 | | (In the Senate - Received from the House May 8, 2023; |
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| 3 | 3 | | May 9, 2023, read first time and referred to Committee on State |
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| 4 | 4 | | Affairs; May 23, 2023, rereferred to Committee on Jurisprudence; |
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| 5 | 5 | | May 23, 2023, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 4, |
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| 6 | 6 | | Nays 0; May 23, 2023, sent to printer.) |
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| 7 | 7 | | Click here to see the committee vote |
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| 8 | 8 | | |
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| 9 | 9 | | |
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| 10 | 10 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 11 | 11 | | AN ACT |
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| 12 | 12 | | relating to the enforcement of an order to pay child support by |
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| 13 | 13 | | contempt. |
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| 14 | 14 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 15 | 15 | | SECTION 1. Section 157.162, Family Code, is amended by |
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| 16 | 16 | | adding Subsection (d) to read as follows: |
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| 17 | 17 | | (d) The court may not find a respondent in contempt of court |
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| 18 | 18 | | for failure to pay child support if the respondent appears at the |
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| 19 | 19 | | hearing with: |
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| 20 | 20 | | (1) a copy of the payment record or other evidence |
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| 21 | 21 | | satisfactory to the court showing that the respondent is current in |
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| 22 | 22 | | the payment of child support as ordered by the court; and |
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| 23 | 23 | | (2) evidence satisfactory to the court showing that |
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| 24 | 24 | | the respondent's failure to make timely payments was due to an error |
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| 25 | 25 | | made by a third party or other circumstances outside the |
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| 26 | 26 | | respondent's control. |
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| 27 | 27 | | SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only |
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| 28 | 28 | | to a hearing to enforce an order in a suit affecting the |
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| 29 | 29 | | parent-child relationship that commences on or after the effective |
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| 30 | 30 | | date of this Act. A hearing that commences before the effective |
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| 31 | 31 | | date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the date the |
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| 32 | 32 | | hearing commenced, and the former law is continued in effect for |
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| 33 | 33 | | that purpose. |
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| 34 | 34 | | SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023. |
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| 35 | 35 | | * * * * * |
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