85R3421 SCL-D
By: Wu H.B. No. 719
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to liability limits in a health care liability claim.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 74.301, Civil Practice and Remedies
Code, is amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) When there is an increase or decrease in the consumer
price index with respect to the amount of that index on September 1,
2003, the liability limits prescribed by this section shall be
increased or decreased, as applicable, by a sum equal to the amount
of such limit multiplied by the percentage increase or decrease in
the consumer price index, as published by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics of the United States Department of Labor, that measures
the average changes in prices of goods and services purchased by
urban wage earners and clerical workers' families and single
workers living alone (CPI-W: Seasonally Adjusted U.S. City
Average--All Items), between September 1, 2003, and the time at
which damages subject to such limits are awarded by final judgment
or settlement.
SECTION 2. Section 74.302, Civil Practice and Remedies
Code, is amended by adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
(f) When there is an increase or decrease in the consumer
price index with respect to the amount of that index on September 1,
2003, the liability limits and financial responsibility amounts
prescribed by this section shall be increased or decreased, as
applicable, by a sum equal to the amount of such limit multiplied by
the percentage increase or decrease in the consumer price index, as
published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States
Department of Labor, that measures the average changes in prices of
goods and services purchased by urban wage earners and clerical
workers' families and single workers living alone (CPI-W:
Seasonally Adjusted U.S. City Average--All Items), between
September 1, 2003, and the time at which damages subject to such
limits are awarded by final judgment or settlement.
SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a health care liability claim that accrues on or after the effective
date of this Act. A health care liability claim that accrued before
the effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it existed
immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. 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, 2017.