Arkansas Passes Equal Parenting Bill - Texas Still Waiting for Hearing on HB 803 Equal Parenting Bill

Right over the Texas border, Arkansas, has signed into law an Equal Parenting bill that is the strongest in the nation. 

Texas has an Equal Parenting Bill, HB 803. It passed out of committee last year nearly unanimously. This year it has 21 bi-partisan authors and has the support of voters across all political spectrums, minority groups, all genders, all parts of Texas, and supported by the science and university and psychological studies all showing equal parenting is best for kids and even best for women. 

Texas HB 803 has not gotten a hearing yet and time is running out before the bill dies, which would seem unheard of for such a popular, bi-partisan bill that will greatly help children, to not even be given a hearing in time to get an up or down vote. It would seem to defy the very intent of democracy.

On April 7, 2021, Arkansas became the second state in the nation to pass a law for a rebuttable presumption of joint custody, defined as equal parenting time. Not only that, but we became the first to require clear and convincing evidence to overcome the presumption. SB18 passed the House with a vote of 71-16 and the Senate 33-2, and gave us the strongest joint custody law in the country.

Equal Parenting is the future, and Texas should lead and make history, instead of just following the coat tails of other states who have passed it with great success, such as Kentucky.

If you are a legislator who has not signed up for the bill as an Author, please do so. And please reach out to fellow State Rep, Chairwoman Victoria Neave, and ask her to set the bill for a hearing Next Week in the JJFI Committee.