By: Smithee (Senate Sponsor - Hughes) H.B. No. 1761
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 24, 2017;
May 1, 2017, read first time and referred to Committee on State
Affairs; May 8, 2017, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 8, 2017, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to jurisdiction of the Texas Supreme Court.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 22.001(a), (b), and (c), Government
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) The supreme court has appellate jurisdiction, except in
criminal law matters, of an [coextensive with the limits of the
state and extending to all questions of law arising in the following
cases when they have been brought to the courts of appeals from]
appealable order or judgment of the trial courts if the court
determines that the appeal presents a question[:
[(1) a case in which the justices of a court of appeals
disagree on a question of law material to the decision;
[(2) a case in which one of the courts of appeals holds
differently from a prior decision of another court of appeals or of
the supreme court on a question of law material to a decision of the
case;
[(3) a case involving the construction or validity of
a statute necessary to a determination of the case;
[(4) a case involving state revenue;
[(5) a case in which the railroad commission is a
party; and
[(6) any other case in which it appears that an error]
of law [has been committed by the court of appeals, and] that
[error] is important [of such importance] to the jurisprudence of
the state. The supreme court's jurisdiction does not include
[that, in the opinion of the supreme court, it requires correction,
but excluding those] cases in which the jurisdiction of the court of
appeals is made final by statute.
(b) A case over which the court has jurisdiction under
Subsection (a) may be carried to the supreme court [either] by
petition for review [writ of error or by certificate from the court
of appeals, but the court of appeals may certify a question of law
arising in any of those cases at any time it chooses, either before
or after the decision of the case in that court].
(c) Except as provided by this subsection, an appeal may be
taken to the supreme court only if the appeal was first brought to
the court of appeals. An appeal may be taken directly to the
supreme court from an order of a trial court granting or denying an
interlocutory or permanent injunction on the ground of the
constitutionality of a statute of this state. [It is the duty of
the supreme court to prescribe the necessary rules of procedure to
be followed in perfecting the appeal.]
SECTION 2. The heading to Section 22.007, Government Code,
is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 22.007. PETITION FOR REVIEW [APPLICATION FOR WRIT OF
ERROR].
SECTION 3. Sections 22.007(a) and (e), Government Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) The supreme court may act on petitions for review
[applications for writs of error] when the court deems it
expedient. [The supreme court shall pass on an application for writ
of error in a case in which the justices of the courts of appeals
have disagreed or have declared void a statute of the state.]
(e) The granting of a petition for review [an application
for writ of error] admits the case into the supreme court, and the
supreme court shall proceed with the case as provided by law. The
denial [refusal] or dismissal of a petition for review [an
application] has the effect of denying the admission of the case
into the supreme court, except that a motion for rehearing may be
made [to the designated justices ] in the same manner that a motion
for rehearing to the supreme court is made in a case in which the
court granted review. The denial or dismissal of a petition for
review may [refusal or dismissal of an application shall] not be
regarded as a precedent or authority.
SECTION 4. The following provisions of the Government Code
are repealed:
(1) Section 22.001(e);
(2) Sections 22.007(b), (c), (d), (f), and (g); and
(3) Sections 22.225(b), (c), (d), and (e).
SECTION 5. The repeal of Section 22.225(d), Government
Code, applies only to an interlocutory order rendered on or after
the effective date of this Act. An interlocutory order rendered
before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law
applicable to the order immediately before the effective date of
this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.
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