H.B. No. 1864
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to periods of possession of and access to a child,
  including periods of electronic communication.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 153, Family Code, is
  amended by adding Section 153.015 to read as follows:
         Sec. 153.015.  ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION WITH CHILD BY
  CONSERVATOR.  (a)  In this section, "electronic communication"
  means any communication facilitated by the use of any wired or
  wireless technology via the Internet or any other electronic media.
  The term includes communication facilitated by the use of a
  telephone, electronic mail, instant messaging, videoconferencing,
  or webcam.
         (b)  If a conservator of a child requests the court to order
  periods of electronic communication with the child under this
  section, the court may award the conservator reasonable periods of
  electronic communication with the child to supplement the
  conservator's periods of possession of the child. In determining
  whether to award electronic communication, the court shall
  consider:
               (1)  whether electronic communication is in the best
  interest of the child;
               (2)  whether equipment necessary to facilitate the
  electronic communication is reasonably available to all parties
  subject to the order; and
               (3)  any other factor the court considers appropriate.
         (c)  If a court awards a conservator periods of electronic
  communication with a child under this section, each conservator
  subject to the court's order shall:
               (1)  provide the other conservator with the e-mail
  address and other electronic communication access information of
  the child;
               (2)  notify the other conservator of any change in the
  e-mail address or other electronic communication access
  information not later than 24 hours after the date the change takes
  effect; and
               (3)  if necessary equipment is reasonably available,
  accommodate electronic communication with the child, with the same
  privacy, respect, and dignity accorded all other forms of access,
  at a reasonable time and for a reasonable duration subject to any
  limitation provided by the court in the court's order.
         (d)  The court may not consider the availability of
  electronic communication as a factor in determining child support.  
  The availability of electronic communication is not intended as a
  substitute for physical possession of or access to the child, where
  otherwise appropriate.
         (e)  In a suit in which the court's order contains provisions
  related to a finding of family violence in the suit, including
  supervised visitation, the court may award periods of electronic
  communication under this section only if:
               (1)  the award and terms of the award are mutually
  agreed to by the parties; and
               (2)  the terms of the award:
                     (A)  are printed in the court's order in
  boldfaced, capitalized type; and
                     (B)  include any specific restrictions relating
  to family violence or supervised visitation, as applicable,
  required by other law to be included in a possession or access
  order.
         SECTION 2.  Section 153.312(a), Family Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  If the possessory conservator resides 100 miles or less
  from the primary residence of the child, the possessory conservator
  shall have the right to possession of the child as follows:
               (1)  on weekends throughout the year beginning at 6
  p.m. on the first, third, and fifth Friday of each month and ending
  at 6 p.m. on the following Sunday except that [or], at the
  possessory conservator's election made before or at the time of the
  rendition of the original or modification order, and as specified
  in the original or modification order, the weekend periods of
  possession specified by this subdivision that occur during the
  regular school term shall begin [beginning] at the time the child's
  school is regularly dismissed and end [ending] at 6 p.m. on the
  following Sunday; and
               (2)  on Thursdays of each week during the regular
  school term beginning at 6 p.m. and ending at 8 p.m., or, at the
  possessory conservator's election made before or at the time of the
  rendition of the original or modification order, and as specified
  in the original or modification order, beginning at the time the
  child's school is regularly dismissed and ending at the time the
  child's school resumes, unless the court finds that visitation
  under this subdivision is not in the best interest of the child.
         SECTION 3.  Section 153.314, Family Code, is amended to read
  as follows:
         Sec. 153.314.  HOLIDAY POSSESSION UNAFFECTED BY DISTANCE
  PARENTS RESIDE APART.  The following provisions govern possession
  of the child for certain specific holidays and supersede
  conflicting weekend or Thursday periods of possession without
  regard to the distance the parents reside apart. The possessory
  conservator and the managing conservator shall have rights of
  possession of the child as follows:
               (1)  the possessory conservator shall have possession
  of the child in even-numbered years beginning at 6 p.m. on the day
  the child is dismissed from school for the Christmas school
  vacation and ending at noon on December 28 [26], and the managing
  conservator shall have possession for the same period in
  odd-numbered years;
               (2)  the possessory conservator shall have possession
  of the child in odd-numbered years beginning at noon on December 28
  [26] and ending at 6 p.m. on the day before school resumes after
  that vacation, and the managing conservator shall have possession
  for the same period in even-numbered years;
               (3)  the possessory conservator shall have possession
  of the child in odd-numbered years, beginning at 6 p.m. on the day
  the child is dismissed from school before Thanksgiving and ending
  at 6 p.m. on the following Sunday, and the managing conservator
  shall have possession for the same period in even-numbered years;
               (4)  the parent not otherwise entitled under this
  standard order to present possession of a child on the child's
  birthday shall have possession of the child beginning at 6 p.m. and
  ending at 8 p.m. on that day, provided that the parent picks up the
  child from the residence of the conservator entitled to possession
  and returns the child to that same place;
               (5)  if a conservator, the father shall have possession
  of the child beginning at 6 p.m. on the Friday preceding Father's
  Day and ending on Father's Day at 6 p.m., provided that, if he is not
  otherwise entitled under this standard order to present possession
  of the child, he picks up the child from the residence of the
  conservator entitled to possession and returns the child to that
  same place; and
               (6)  if a conservator, the mother shall have possession
  of the child beginning at 6 p.m. on the Friday preceding Mother's
  Day and ending on Mother's Day at 6 p.m., provided that, if she is
  not otherwise entitled under this standard order to present
  possession of the child, she picks up the child from the residence
  of the conservator entitled to possession and returns the child to
  that same place.
         SECTION 4.  Section 153.3161, Family Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 153.3161.  [LIMITED] POSSESSION DURING MILITARY
  DEPLOYMENT. (a)  In this section, "military deployment" means
  military duty ordered for a period of more than six months during
  which the person ordered to duty:
               (1)  is not provided the option of being accompanied by
  the person's child; and
               (2)  is serving in a location where access to the
  person's child is not reasonably possible.
         (b)  In addition to the general terms and conditions of
  possession required by Section 153.316, if a possessory conservator
  or a joint managing conservator of the child without the exclusive
  right to designate the primary residence of the child is currently a
  member of the armed forces of the state or the United States or is
  reasonably expected to join those forces, the court shall:
               (1)  permit that conservator to designate a person who
  may exercise [limited] possession of the child on behalf of that
  conservator during any period that the conservator is deployed
  under a military deployment [outside of the United States]; and
               (2)  if the conservator elects to designate a person
  under Subdivision (1), provide in the order for [limited]
  possession of the child by the designated person under those
  circumstances, subject to the court's determination that the
  [limited] possession is in the best interest of the child.
         (c) [(b)]  If the court determines that the [limited]
  possession is in the best interest of the child, the court shall
  provide in the order that during periods of military deployment:
               (1)  the designated person has the right to possession
  of the child for the periods and in the manner in which the deployed
  conservator would be entitled to exercise possession if not
  deployed [on the first weekend of each month beginning at 6 p.m. on
  Friday and ending at 6 p.m. on Sunday];
               (2)  [the other parent shall surrender the child to the
  designated person at the beginning of each period of possession at
  the other parent's residence;
               [(3)     the designated person shall return the child to
  the other parent's residence at the end of each period of
  possession;
               [(4)]  the child's other parent and the designated
  person are subject to the requirements of Section 153.316, with the
  designated person considered for purposes of that section to be the
  possessory conservator [Sections 153.316(5)-(9)];
               (3) [(5)]  the designated person has the rights and
  duties of a nonparent possessory conservator under Section
  153.376(a) during the period that the person has possession of the
  child; and
               (4) [(6)]  the designated person is subject to any
  provision in a court order restricting or prohibiting access to the
  child by any specified individual.
         (d) [(c)]  After the military deployment is concluded, and
  the deployed parent returns to that parent's usual residence, the
  designated person's right to [limited] possession under this
  section terminates and the rights of all affected parties are
  governed by the terms of any court order applicable when a parent is
  not deployed.
         SECTION 5.  Section 156.105, Family Code, is amended to read
  as follows:
         Sec. 156.105.  MODIFICATION OF ORDER BASED ON MILITARY
  DEPLOYMENT. (a)  In this section, "military deployment" means
  military duty ordered for a period of more than six months during
  which the person ordered to duty:
               (1)  is not provided the option of being accompanied by
  the person's child; and
               (2)  is serving in a location where access to the
  person's child is not reasonably possible.
         (b)  The military deployment [outside this country] of a
  person who is a possessory conservator or a joint managing
  conservator without the exclusive right to designate the primary
  residence of the child is a material and substantial change of
  circumstances sufficient to justify a modification of an existing
  court order or portion of a decree that sets the terms and
  conditions for the possession of or access to a child.
         (c) [(b)]  If the court determines that modification is in
  the best interest of the child, the court may modify the order or
  decree to provide in a manner consistent with Section 153.3161 for
  [limited] possession of the child during the period of the military 
  deployment by a person designated by the deployed conservator.
         SECTION 6.  Section 153.015, Family Code, as added by this
  Act, applies to a suit affecting the parent-child relationship
  filed before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
         SECTION 7.  The change in law made by this Act to Section
  153.314, Family Code, applies only to a court order providing for
  possession of or access to a child rendered on or after the
  effective date of this Act.  A court order rendered before the
  effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the
  date the order was rendered, and the former law is continued in
  effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 8.  Section 153.3161, Family Code, as amended by
  this Act, applies only to a suit affecting the parent-child
  relationship pending in a trial court on or filed on or after the
  effective date of this Act.
         SECTION 9.  Section 156.105, Family Code, as amended by this
  Act, applies only to an action to modify an order in a suit
  affecting the parent-child relationship pending in a trial court on
  or filed on or after the effective date of this Act.
         SECTION 10.  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, 2007.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1864 was passed by the House on May 4,
  2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 140, Nays 0, 2 present, not
  voting; that the House refused to concur in Senate amendments to
  H.B. No. 1864 on May 25, 2007, and requested the appointment of a
  conference committee to consider the differences between the two
  houses; and that the House adopted the conference committee report
  on H.B. No. 1864 on May 27, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 146,
  Nays 0, 2 present, not voting.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1864 was passed by the Senate, with
  amendments, on May 22, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays
  0; at the request of the House, the Senate appointed a conference
  committee to consider the differences between the two houses; and
  that the Senate adopted the conference committee report on H.B. No.
  1864 on May 27, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 0.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate   
  APPROVED: __________________
                  Date       
   
           __________________
                Governor