By: Thompson (Senate Sponsor - Hegar) H.B. No. 2425
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 2011;
May 12, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on State
Affairs; May 21, 2011, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 21, 2011, sent to printer.)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to notice to the attorney general of challenges to the
constitutionality of Texas statutes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 402, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 402.010 to read as follows:
Sec. 402.010. LEGAL CHALLENGES TO CONSTITUTIONALITY OF
STATE STATUTES. (a) In an action in which a party to the litigation
files a petition, motion, or other pleading challenging the
constitutionality of a statute of this state, the court shall, if
the attorney general is not a party to or counsel involved in the
litigation, serve notice of the constitutional question and a copy
of the petition, motion, or other pleading that raises the
challenge on the attorney general either by certified or registered
mail or electronically to an e-mail address designated by the
attorney general for the purposes of this section. Notice under
this section must identify the statute in question, state the basis
for the challenge, and specify the petition, motion, or other
pleading that raises the challenge.
(b) A court may not enter a final judgment holding a statute
of this state unconstitutional before the 45th day after the date
notice required by Subsection (a) is served on the attorney
general.
(c) A court's failure to file or serve notice as required by
Subsection (a) does not deprive the court of jurisdiction or
forfeit an otherwise timely filed claim or defense based on the
challenge to the constitutionality of a statute of this state.
(d) This section or the state's intervention in litigation
in response to notice under this section does not constitute a
waiver of sovereign immunity.
SECTION 2. Section 402.010, Government Code, as added by
this Act, applies only to a petition, motion, or other pleading
filed in litigation on or after the effective date of this Act. A
pleading filed in litigation before the effective date of this Act
is governed by the law applicable to the pleading immediately
before the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
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