[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 709 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 709

   To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to require 
 States to have laws that would permit a parent who is chronically ill 
  or near death to name a standby guardian for a minor child without 
                     surrendering parental rights.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 26, 1995

Mrs. Maloney (for herself, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Studds, Mr. Schumer, Mr. 
   Evans, Mr. Miller of California, and Mr. Deutsch) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend part E of title IV of the Social Security Act to require 
 States to have laws that would permit a parent who is chronically ill 
  or near death to name a standby guardian for a minor child without 
                     surrendering parental rights.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Standby Guardianship Act''.

SEC. 2. STATES REQUIRED TO HAVE STANDBY GUARDIANSHIP LAW AS A CONDITION 
              OF ELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL FUNDS FOR FOSTER CARE AND 
              ADOPTION ASSISTANCE.

    (a) In General.--Part E of title IV of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 670-679) is amended by inserting after section 477 the 
following:

``SEC. 478. STANDBY GUARDIANSHIP LAWS AND PROCEDURES.

    ``To be eligible for payments under this part, a State must have in 
effect laws and procedures that permit any parent who is chronically 
ill or near death, without surrendering parental rights, to designate a 
standby guardian for the parent's minor children, whose authority would 
take effect upon--
            ``(1) the death of the parent;
            ``(2) the mental incapacity of the parent; or
            ``(3) the physical debilitation and consent of the 
        parent.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect at the end of the first calendar quarter that begins 60 or 
more months after the date of the enactment of this Act, and shall 
apply to payments under part E of title IV of the Social Security Act 
for the quarter and payments made under such part for any succeeding 
quarter.
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