2017S0039-1 01/11/17
By: Perry S.B. No. 862
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the award of attorney's fees and other costs in certain
proceedings involving a groundwater conservation district.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 36.066(g) and (h), Water Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(g) In a suit to which [If] the district is a party, the
prevailing party [prevails in any suit other than a suit in which it
voluntarily intervenes, the district] may seek and the court shall
grant, in the interests of justice and as provided by Subsection
(h), in the same action, recovery for attorney's fees, costs for
expert witnesses, and other costs incurred by the prevailing party
[district] before the court. The amount of the attorney's fees
shall be fixed by the court.
(h) If a party [the district] prevails on some, but not all,
of the issues in the suit, the court shall award attorney's fees and
costs only for those issues on which the party [district] prevails.
The prevailing party [district] has the burden of segregating the
attorney's fees and costs in order for the court to make an award.
SECTION 2. Section 36.102(d), Water Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) In [If the district prevails in] any suit to enforce the
district's [its] rules, the prevailing party [district] may seek
and the court shall grant against any party [person], in the same
action, recovery for attorney's fees, costs for expert witnesses,
and other costs incurred by the prevailing party [district] before
the court. The amount of the attorney's fees shall be fixed by the
court.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a proceeding commenced on or after the effective date of this
Act. A proceeding commenced before the effective date of this Act
is governed by the law applicable to the proceeding immediately
before the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in
effect for that purpose.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.