H.B. No. 2331




AN ACT

relating to the emergency possession of certain abandoned children; 
providing a penalty.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Subchapter D, Chapter 262, Family Code, is 
amended by adding Sections 262.308 and 262.309 to read as follows:
	Sec. 262.308.  CONFIDENTIALITY.  (a)  All identifying 
information, documentation, or other records regarding a person who 
voluntarily delivers a child to a designated emergency infant care 
provider under this subchapter is confidential and not subject to 
release to any individual or entity except as provided by 
Subsection (b).
	(b)  Any pleading or other document filed with a court under 
this subchapter is confidential, is not public information for 
purposes of Chapter 552, Government Code, and may not be released to 
a person other than to a party in a suit regarding the child, the 
party's attorney, or an attorney ad litem or guardian ad litem 
appointed in the suit.
	(c)  In a suit concerning a child for whom the Department of 
Family and Protective Services assumes care, control, and custody 
under this subchapter, the court shall close the hearing to the 
public unless the court finds that the interests of the child or the 
public would be better served by opening the hearing to the public.
	(d)  Unless the disclosure, receipt, or use is permitted by 
this section, a person commits an offense if the person knowingly 
discloses, receives, uses, or permits the use of information 
derived from records or files described by this section or 
knowingly discloses identifying information concerning a person 
who voluntarily delivers a child to a designated emergency infant 
care provider.  An offense under this subsection is a Class B 
misdemeanor.
	Sec. 262.309.  SEARCH FOR RELATIVES NOT REQUIRED.  The 
Department of Family and Protective Services is not required to 
conduct a search for the relatives of a child for whom the 
department assumes care, control, and custody under this 
subchapter.
	SECTION 2.  Section 263.407, Family Code, is amended by 
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (a-1) and (c) to 
read as follows:
	(a)  There [In a suit to terminate the parent-child 
relationship, there] is a rebuttable presumption that a parent who 
delivers a child to a designated emergency infant care provider in 
accordance with Subchapter D, Chapter 262:
		(1)  is the child's biological parent; and                             
		(2)  intends to relinquish parental rights and[,] 
consents to the termination of parental rights with regard to the 
child.
	(a-1)  A party that seeks to rebut a presumption in 
Subsection (a) may do so at any time before the parent-child 
relationship is terminated with regard to the child.
	(c)  Before filing a petition to terminate the parental 
rights with regard to a child taken into the department's custody 
under Section 262.303, the department must:
		(1)  verify with the National Crime Information Center 
and state and local law enforcement agencies that the child is not a 
missing child; and
		(2)  obtain a certificate of the search of the 
paternity registry under Subchapter E, Chapter 160, not earlier 
than the date the department estimates to be the 30th day after the 
child's date of birth.
	SECTION 3.  Section 263.3025(d), Family Code, is repealed.                     
	SECTION 4.  The change in law made by this Act applies to a 
child for whom the Department of Family and Protective Services 
assumes responsibility under Subchapter D, Chapter 262, Family 
Code, as amended by this Act, regardless of whether the department 
assumed responsibility for the child before, on, or after the 
effective date of this Act.
	SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2005.                           




______________________________              ______________________________
 
   President of the Senate                               Speaker of the House      

	I certify that H.B. No. 2331 was passed by the House on April 
22, 2005, by the following vote:  Yeas 139, Nays 0, 1 present, not 
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B. 
No. 2331 on May 23, 2005, by a non-record vote.

                                                  ______________________________
                                                     Chief Clerk of the House   

	
I certify that H.B. No. 2331 was passed by the Senate, with 
amendments, on May 19, 2005, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 
0.

                                                  ______________________________
                                                      Secretary of the Senate   



APPROVED: __________________                                                
 
                Date                                                         




 
         __________________                                              
 
              Governor