Texas Bill

Free Web Hosting Provider - Web Hosting - E-commerce - High Speed Internet - Free Web Page

TO ANYONE WHO THINKS THAT H.B. No. 13 IN TEXAS IS GOOD FOR OPEN RECORDS AND THAT REPRESENTATIVE GOOLSBY IS WORKING IN THE FAVOR OF OPEN RECORDS..........

READ THIS ARTICLE TO FIND OUT WHAT GOOLSBY REALLY THINKS ABOUT OPEN RECORDS AND WHY HE IS SUPPORTING THIS CONTORTED BILL........

The first thing that is clearly evident in the wording of this bill is that the state of TX is changing it's statures to

" names of the adoptive parents, one of whom must be a female, named 1-9 as the mother, and the other of whom must be a male, named as the 1-10 father. The only information that may be changed on the 1-11 supplementary birth certificate is the name of the mother, father, 1-12 or child. [This subsection does not prohibit a single individual, 1-13 male or female, from adopting a child.]

Notice they crossed out REMOVING the wording that used to exist stating that this subsection does not prohibit a single individual from adopting....... not if this bill passes........... THIS BILL ALSO IS CLEARLY NOT AN OPEN RECORDS BILL..........as evidenced by the line below.:::::

Copies of the child's 1-14 birth certificates or birth records may not disclose that the child

So they want to make sure that the amended Birth Certificate in no way reflects that an adoption ever occurred........ So the word AMENDED is most likely going to be axed leaving the adoptee with NO KNOWLEDGE that an adoption occurred unless the adoptive parents decide to tell the adoptee.

But then the wording of this bill gets even more confusing because the bottom portion of the bill states that the bill does NOT prevent single persons from adoption and that an uncertified copy of the original birth certificate may be issued to adoptees over the age of 21.

And of course the state of TX once again waives the THREE READING RULE as they did in the bill diminishing the time a birthmother has to relinquish shortening that time span from 48 hours to 24 hours after giving birth.........

So what part of this bill will adoptees be denied access with in the future if this bill passes?

The parts highlighted at the top of the bill most likely......... although the wording at the bottom totally contradicts the wording at the top of the bill.

1-4 SECTION 1. Section 192.008, Health and Safety Code, is 1-5 amended to read as follows:

1-6 Sec. 192.008. BIRTH RECORDS OF ADOPTED PERSON. (a) The 1-7 supplementary birth certificate of an adopted child must be in the 1-8 names of the adoptive parents, one of whom must be a female, named 1-9 as the mother, and the other of whom must be a male, named as the 1-10 father. The only information that may be changed on the 1-11 supplementary birth certificate is the name of the mother, father, 1-12 or child. [This subsection does not prohibit a single individual, 1-13 male or female, from adopting a child.]**********THE PREVIOUS LINE OR WORDING HAS BEEN CROSSED OUT IN THE VERSION FOUND AT THE TEXAS LEGISLATIVE WEBSITE*************Copies of the child's 1-14 birth certificates or birth records may not disclose that the child 1-15 is adopted. 1-16 (b) The state registrar may not issue a supplementary birth 1-17 certificate if a court, an adoptive parent, or an adoptee 12 years 1-18 of age or older requests that a supplementary birth certificate not 1-19 be issued. If the supplementary birth certificate may not be 1-20 issued, the state registrar shall furnish a certified copy of the 1-21 report of adoption. 1-22 (c) After a supplementary birth certificate of an adopted 1-23 child is filed, information disclosed from the record must be from 1-24 the supplementary certificate. 2-1 (d) [(c)] The board shall adopt rules and procedures to 2-2 ensure that birth records and indexes under the control of the 2-3 department or local registrars and accessible to the public do not 2-4 contain information or cross-references through which the 2-5 confidentiality of adoption placements may be directly or 2-6 indirectly violated. The rules and procedures may not interfere 2-7 with the registries established under Subchapter E, Chapter 162, 2-8 Family Code, or with a court order under this section. 2-9 (e) [(d)] Except as provided by Subsections (f) and (g), any 2-10 [Subsection (e), only the] court of competent jurisdiction [that 2-11 granted the adoption] may order access to [an original birth 2-12 certificate and] the filed documents on which a supplementary 2-13 certificate is based. 2-14 (f) [(e)] A person applying for access to an original birth 2-15 certificate and the filed documents on which the supplementary 2-16 certificate is based is entitled to know the identity and location 2-17 of the court that granted the adoption, the docket number of the 2-18 adoption suit, the date the adoption order was rendered and, if 2-19 available, the identity and location of the court that rendered the 2-20 termination order, the docket number for the termination suit, and 2-21 the date the termination was rendered. If that information is not 2-22 on file, the state registrar shall give the person an affidavit 2-23 stating that the information is not on file with the state 2-24 registrar. Any court of competent jurisdiction to which the person 2-25 presents the affidavit may order [the] access to the documents on 2-26 which the supplementary certificate is based. 2-27 (g) The state registrar shall provide to a person who was 3-1 adopted a noncertified copy of the person's original birth 3-2 certificate if: 3-3 (1) the person is 21 years of age or older; 3-4 (2) a supplementary birth certificate was issued for 3-5 the person; and 3-6 (3) the person furnishes proof of the person's 3-7 identity. 3-8 (h) Subsection (a) does not prohibit a single individual, 3-9 male or female, from adopting a child. 3-10 SECTION 2. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1999. 3-11 (b) The change in law made by this Act regarding access to 3-12 birth certificate information applies without regard to the date an 3-13 adoption order is rendered. 3-14 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 3-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 3-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 3-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 3-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.

0 H Left pending in committee 03/01/1999 0 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------