86R11434 BRG-F
By: Burns H.B. No. 2125
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the award of attorney's fees and other costs in certain
suits involving a groundwater conservation district.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 36.066, Water Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (g) and adding Subsection (i) to read as
follows:
(g) If the district prevails in any suit other than a suit in
which it voluntarily intervenes, the district may seek and the
court may [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
district before the court. The amount of the attorney's fees shall
be fixed by the court in an amount not to exceed $100,000.
(i) Notwithstanding Section 36.052(a), Subsections (g) and
(h) of this section prevail over any other special law inconsistent
with those subsections unless the other law:
(1) limits an award of attorney's fees in a suit to an
amount less than $100,000; or
(2) prohibits an award of attorney's fees or costs.
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
a suit involving a groundwater conservation district that is filed
on or after the effective date of this Act. A suit filed before the
effective date of this Act is subject to the law in effect on the
date the suit is filed, and that law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.