| 1 | | - | By: Perry, Creighton S.B. No. 851 |
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| 1 | + | By: Perry S.B. No. 851 |
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| 2 | + | (In the Senate - Filed February 15, 2019; March 1, 2019, |
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| 3 | + | read first time and referred to Committee on Water & Rural Affairs; |
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| 4 | + | April 4, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote: Yeas 4, |
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| 5 | + | Nays 2; April 4, 2019, sent to printer.) |
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| 6 | + | Click here to see the committee vote |
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| 2 | 7 | | |
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| 3 | 8 | | |
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| 4 | 9 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED |
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| 5 | 10 | | AN ACT |
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| 6 | 11 | | relating to the award of attorney's fees and other costs in certain |
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| 7 | 12 | | proceedings involving a groundwater conservation district. |
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| 8 | 13 | | BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
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| 9 | 14 | | SECTION 1. Section 36.066(g), Water Code, is amended to |
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| 10 | 15 | | read as follows: |
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| 11 | 16 | | (g) In a suit to which [If] the district is a party, |
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| 12 | 17 | | [prevails in any suit other than a suit in which it voluntarily |
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| 13 | 18 | | intervenes, the district may seek and] the court may [shall] grant |
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| 14 | 19 | | reasonable and necessary[, in the interests of justice and as |
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| 15 | 20 | | provided by Subsection (h), in the same action, recovery for] |
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| 16 | 21 | | attorney's fees, costs for expert witnesses, and other costs |
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| 17 | 22 | | incurred by the prevailing party [district] before the court as the |
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| 18 | 23 | | court considers equitable and just. The court may not award more |
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| 19 | 24 | | than $250,000 in attorney's fees. [The amount of the attorney's |
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| 20 | 25 | | fees shall be fixed by the court.] |
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| 21 | 26 | | SECTION 2. Section 36.102(d), Water Code, is amended to |
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| 22 | 27 | | read as follows: |
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| 23 | 28 | | (d) In a [If the district prevails in any] suit to enforce |
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| 24 | 29 | | the district's [its] rules, the [district may seek and the] court |
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| 25 | 30 | | may [shall] grant reasonable and necessary [against any person, in |
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| 26 | 31 | | the same action, recovery for] attorney's fees, costs for expert |
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| 27 | 32 | | witnesses, and other costs incurred by the prevailing party |
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| 28 | 33 | | [district] before the court as the court considers equitable and |
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| 29 | 34 | | just. [The amount of the attorney's fees shall be fixed by the |
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| 30 | 35 | | court.] |
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| 31 | 36 | | SECTION 3. Section 36.066(h), Water Code, is repealed. |
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| 32 | 37 | | SECTION 4. Sections 36.066(g) and 36.102(d), Water Code, as |
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| 33 | 38 | | amended by this Act, apply only to an action filed on or after the |
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| 34 | 39 | | effective date of this Act. An action that is filed before the |
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| 35 | 40 | | effective date of this Act is governed by the law applicable to the |
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| 36 | 41 | | action immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that |
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| 37 | 42 | | law is continued in effect for that purpose. |
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| 38 | 43 | | SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019. |
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