87R7651 MLH-D     By: Dutton H.B. No. 1422       A BILL TO BE ENTITLED   AN ACT   relating to the child support obligation of an obligor during the   obligor's confinement in jail or prison.          BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:          SECTION 1.  Section 157.162, Family Code, is amended by   adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:          (d)  The court may not find a respondent in contempt of court   for failure to pay child support if the respondent, or the   respondent's attorney if the respondent is confined in jail or   prison at the time of the hearing, appears at the hearing and   presents credible evidence showing that:                (1)  the unpaid child support accrued during the   obligor's confinement in a local, state, or federal jail or prison   for a period of at least 90 consecutive days, other than   confinement:                      (A)  for an offense constituting an act of family   violence, as defined by Section 71.004, committed against the   obligee or a child covered by the child support order; or                      (B)  resulting from the obligor's failure to   comply with a child support order; and                 (2)  the obligor did not have sufficient resources   available to comply with the child support order during the period   of the obligor's confinement.          SECTION 2.  Section 157.162(d), Family Code, as added by   this Act, applies to a hearing to enforce an order in a suit   affecting the parent-child relationship that commences on or after   the effective date of this Act. A hearing that commences before the   effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the   date the hearing commenced, and the former law is continued in   effect for that purpose.          SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.