82R3156 TJS-D
By: Thompson H.B. No. 2425
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) A party to litigation who files a petition,
motion, or other pleading challenging the constitutionality of a
statute of this state shall, if the attorney general is not a party
to or counsel involved in the litigation:
(1) file with the court a notice of constitutional
question identifying the statute in question, stating the basis for
the challenge, and specifying the petition, motion, or other
pleading that raises the challenge; and
(2) serve the notice and pleading 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.
(b) A court may not enter a final judgment holding a statute
of this state unconstitutional before the 60th day after the date
notice required by Subsection (a) is served on the attorney
general.
(c) A party'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.