By Thompson, Hill                                      H.B. No. 145
         76R1292 PB-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to garnishment of wages for the enforcement of
 1-3     court-ordered spousal maintenance.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 8.002, Family Code, is amended to read as
 1-6     follows:
 1-7           Sec. 8.002.  ELIGIBILITY FOR MAINTENANCE; COURT ORDER.  (a)
 1-8     In a suit for dissolution of a marriage or in a proceeding for
 1-9     maintenance in a court with personal jurisdiction over both former
1-10     spouses following the dissolution of their marriage by a court that
1-11     lacked personal jurisdiction over an absent spouse, the court may
1-12     order maintenance for either spouse only if:
1-13                 (1)  the spouse from whom maintenance is requested was
1-14     convicted of or received deferred adjudication for a criminal
1-15     offense that also constitutes an act of family violence under
1-16     Chapter 71 and the offense occurred:
1-17                       (A)  within two years before the date on which a
1-18     suit for dissolution of the marriage is filed; or
1-19                       (B)  while the suit is pending; or
1-20                 (2)  the duration of the marriage was 10 years or
1-21     longer, the spouse seeking maintenance lacks sufficient property,
1-22     including property distributed to the spouse under this code, to
1-23     provide for the spouse's minimum reasonable needs, as limited by
1-24     Section 8.005, and the spouse seeking maintenance:
 2-1                       (A)  is unable to support himself or herself
 2-2     through appropriate employment because of an incapacitating
 2-3     physical or mental disability;
 2-4                       (B)  is the custodian of a child who requires
 2-5     substantial care and personal supervision because a physical or
 2-6     mental disability makes it necessary, taking into consideration the
 2-7     needs of the child, that the spouse not be employed outside the
 2-8     home; or
 2-9                       (C)  clearly lacks earning ability in the labor
2-10     market adequate to provide support for the spouse's minimum
2-11     reasonable needs, as limited by Section 8.005.
2-12           (b)  A court may enforce an order for spousal maintenance
2-13     under this section by ordering garnishment of the  wages of the
2-14     person ordered to pay the maintenance or by any other means
2-15     available under Section 8.009.
2-16           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
2-17           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-18     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-19     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-20     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-21     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.