[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3577 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3577

  To provide parent-child testimonial privileges in Federal civil and 
                         criminal proceedings.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 27, 1998

 Ms. Lofgren (for herself, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Watt of North 
  Carolina, Ms. DeLauro, Ms. Eshoo, Ms. Hooley of Oregon, Mrs. Lowey, 
Mrs. Mink of Hawaii, Mrs. Tauscher, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. DeFazio, Mr. Fazio 
 of California, Mr. Hastings of Florida, and Mr. Miller of California) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide parent-child testimonial privileges in Federal civil and 
                         criminal proceedings.

    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 ``Confidence in the Family Act''.

SEC. 2. PARENT-CHILD TESTIMONIAL PRIVILEGES IN FEDERAL CIVIL AND 
              CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS.

    Rule 501 of the Federal Rules of Evidence is amended--
            (1) by designating the 1st sentence as subdivision (a);
            (2) by designating the 2nd sentence as subdivision (c); and
            (3) by inserting after the sentence so designated as 
        subdivision (a) the following new subdivision:
    ``(b)(1) A witness may not be compelled to testify against a child 
or parent of the witness.
    ``(2) A witness may not be compelled to disclose the content of a 
confidential communication with a child or parent of the witness.
    ``(3) For purposes of this subdivision, `child' means, with respect 
to an individual, a birth, adoptive, or step-child of the individual, 
and any person (such as a foster child or a relative of whom the 
individual has long-term custody) with respect to whom the court 
recognizes the individual as having a right to act as a parent.
    ``(4) The privileges provided in this subdivision shall be governed 
by principles of the common law, as they may be interpreted by the 
courts of the United States in the light of reason and experience, that 
are similar to the principles that apply to the similar privileges of a 
witness with respect to a spouse of the witness.''.
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