Texas 2023 - 88th Regular

Texas House Bill HB2139 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New	Differences
1	1	88R19816 MAW-F
2	2	By: Burrows, Cain H.B. No. 2139
3	3	Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2139:
4	4	By: Slawson C.S.H.B. No. 2139
5	5
6	6
7	7	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
8	8	AN ACT
9	9	relating to statutory construction.
10	10	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
11	11	SECTION 1. Sections 311.016(2) and (3), Government Code,
12	12	are amended to read as follows:
13	13	(2) "Shall" imposes a duty. The use of "shall" does not
14	14	indicate that an action is discretionary.
15	15	(3) "Must" imposes a requirement and either creates a
16	16	duty or creates or recognizes a condition precedent.
17	17	SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 311, Government Code, is
18	18	amended by adding Sections 311.0211 and 311.0212 to read as
19	19	follows:
20	20	Sec. 311.0211. INTENTIONALISM PROHIBITED. When
21	21	interpreting a statute, a court:
22	22	(1) may not inquire into what members of the
23	23	legislature intended to accomplish by enacting the statute; and
24	24	(2) shall enforce the statutory text as written and in
25	25	accordance with the meaning that the words of the statute would have
26	26	to an ordinary speaker of the English language.
27	27	Sec. 311.0212. USE OF LEGISLATURE HISTORY PROHIBITED. When
28	28	interpreting a statute, a court may not consider, consult, cite,
29	29	rely on, or give any weight to:
30	30	(1) any statement from an individual legislator,
31	31	including a statement by the author or sponsor of the bill that
32	32	enacted the statute or a statement made during a committee hearing
33	33	or debate of the bill on the floor of a house of the legislature;
34	34	(2) a committee report; or
35	35	(3) a statement of a presiding officer or the governor
36	36	made on the signing of the bill.
37	37	SECTION 3. Section 311.025(c), Government Code, is amended
38	38	to read as follows:
39	39	(c) In determining whether amendments are irreconcilable,
40	40	text that is reenacted because of the requirement of Article III,
41	41	Section 36, of the Texas Constitution is not considered to be
42	42	irreconcilable with additions or omissions in the same text made by
43	43	another amendment. Unless clearly indicated to the contrary, an
44	44	amendment that reenacts text in compliance with that constitutional
45	45	requirement does not mean [indicate legislative intent] that the
46	46	reenacted text prevails [prevail] over changes in the same text
47	47	made by another amendment, regardless of the relative dates of
48	48	enactment.
49	49	SECTION 4. Section 311.026(b), Government Code, is amended
50	50	to read as follows:
51	51	(b) If the conflict between the general provision and the
52	52	special or local provision is irreconcilable, the special or local
53	53	provision prevails as an exception to the general provision, unless
54	54	the general provision is the later enactment and clearly and
55	55	unambiguously supersedes the special or local provision [the
56	56	manifest intent is that the general provision prevail].
57	57	SECTION 5. Section 311.028, Government Code, is amended to
58	58	read as follows:
59	59	Sec. 311.028. UNIFORM CONSTRUCTION OF UNIFORM ACTS. A
60	60	uniform act included in a code shall be construed, when possible,
61	61	[to effect its general purpose] to make uniform the law of those
62	62	states that enact it.
63	63	SECTION 6. Subchapter C, Chapter 311, Government Code, is
64	64	amended by adding Section 311.0311 to read as follows:
65	65	Sec. 311.0311. SEVERABILITY AND SAVING CONSTRUCTIONS. (a)
66	66	Unless a statute contains a provision expressly providing for
67	67	nonseverability, every provision, section, subsection, sentence,
68	68	clause, phrase, and word of the statute, including every discrete
69	69	application of the provision, section, subsection, sentence,
70	70	clause, phrase, or word to any person, group of persons, or
71	71	circumstance, is severable.
72	72	(b) If any application of any statutory provision, section,
73	73	subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word to any person, group
74	74	of persons, or circumstance is determined by a court to be invalid,
75	75	preempted, or unconstitutional, regardless of the reason, all
76	76	remaining applications of that statutory provision, section,
77	77	subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word to any other person,
78	78	group of persons, or circumstance shall be severed and preserved
79	79	and remain in effect.
80	80	(c) It is the intent of the legislature that every valid,
81	81	non-preempted, and constitutional application of its statutory
82	82	enactments be allowed to stand alone and remain enforceable.
83	83	(d) A court may not decline to enforce the severability
84	84	requirements of this section on the grounds that the severance
85	85	would rewrite the statute or involve the court in legislative or
86	86	lawmaking activity. A court that declines to enforce, or that
87	87	enjoins a state official from enforcing, wholly or partly, a
88	88	statute is not considered to be rewriting a statute or engaging in
89	89	legislative or lawmaking activity because the statute continues to
90	90	contain the same words as before the court's decision. A judicial
91	91	injunction or declaration of unconstitutionality:
92	92	(1) is only an edict prohibiting enforcement of the
93	93	disputed statute against the parties to that lawsuit and may
94	94	subsequently be vacated by a higher court based on a different
95	95	understanding of the law;
96	96	(2) is not a formal amendment of the language in a
97	97	statute; and
98	98	(3) does not rewrite the statute any more than a
99	99	decision by the executive not to enforce a duly enacted statute in a
100	100	limited and defined set of circumstances.
101	101	(e) If a court, in violation of this section, declares or
102	102	finds any statutory provision, section, subsection, sentence,
103	103	clause, phrase, or word to be facially or totally invalid,
104	104	preempted, or unconstitutional, when there are discrete
105	105	applications of that statutory provision, section, subsection,
106	106	sentence, clause, phrase, or word that could be enforced against a
107	107	person, group of persons, or circumstance without violating federal
108	108	law or the federal or state constitutions, then that statutory
109	109	provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word
110	110	shall be interpreted, as a matter of state law, as if the
111	111	legislature had explicitly limited its application to the person,
112	112	group of persons, or circumstance for which its application will
113	113	not violate federal law or the federal or state constitutions, and
114	114	every court shall adopt and apply this saving construction until
115	115	the court ruling declaring the statutory provision, section,
116	116	subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word facially or totally
117	117	invalid, preempted, or unconstitutional is vacated or overturned.
118	118	SECTION 7. Section 311.034, Government Code, is amended to
119	119	read as follows:
120	120	Sec. 311.034. WAIVER OF SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY; JURISDICTIONAL
121	121	REQUIREMENTS. In order to preserve the legislature's interest in
122	122	managing state fiscal matters through the appropriations process, a
123	123	statute shall not be construed as a waiver of sovereign immunity
124	124	unless the waiver is effected by clear and unambiguous language. In
125	125	a statute, the use of "person," as defined by Section 311.005 to
126	126	include governmental entities, does not [indicate legislative
127	127	intent to] waive sovereign immunity unless the context of the
128	128	statute indicates no other reasonable construction. Statutory
129	129	prerequisites to a suit, including the provision of notice, are
130	130	jurisdictional requirements in all suits against a governmental
131	131	entity.
132	132	SECTION 8. Subchapter C, Chapter 311, Government Code, is
133	133	amended by adding Section 311.037 to read as follows:
134	134	Sec. 311.037. GRAMMATICAL OR SCRIVENER'S ERROR. A
135	135	grammatical or scrivener's error does not vitiate a law. A court
136	136	construing a statute that contains a grammatical or scrivener's
137	137	error that would be apparent to an ordinary reader of the English
138	138	language may interpret the statute consistent with the
139	139	understanding of the statute by an ordinary reader of the English
140	140	language.
141	141	SECTION 9. Subchapter A, Chapter 312, Government Code, is
142	142	amended by adding Sections 312.0051, 312.0052, 312.0081, and
143	143	312.0082 to read as follows:
144	144	Sec. 312.0051. INTENTIONALISM PROHIBITED. When
145	145	interpreting a statute, a court:
146	146	(1) may not inquire into what members of the
147	147	legislature intended to accomplish by enacting the statute; and
148	148	(2) shall enforce the statutory text as written and in
149	149	accordance with the meaning that the words of the statute would have
150	150	to an ordinary speaker of the English language.
151	151	Sec. 312.0052. USE OF LEGISLATURE HISTORY PROHIBITED. When
152	152	interpreting a statute, a court may not consider, consult, cite,
153	153	rely on, or give any weight to:
154	154	(1) any statement from an individual legislator,
155	155	including a statement by the author or sponsor of the bill that
156	156	enacted the statute or a statement made during a committee hearing
157	157	or debate of the bill on the floor of a house of the legislature;
158	158	(2) a committee report; or
159	159	(3) a statement of a presiding officer or the governor
160	160	made on the signing of the bill.
161	161	Sec. 312.0081. GRAMMATICAL OR SCRIVENER'S ERROR. A
162	162	grammatical or scrivener's error does not vitiate a law. A court
163	163	construing a statute that contains a grammatical or scrivener's
164	164	error that would be apparent to an ordinary reader of the English
165	165	language may interpret the statute consistent with the
166	166	understanding of the statute by an ordinary reader of the English
167	167	language.
168	168	Sec. 312.0082. SEVERABILITY AND SAVING CONSTRUCTIONS. (a)
169	169	Unless a statute contains a provision expressly providing for
170	170	nonseverability, every provision, section, subsection, sentence,
171	171	clause, phrase, and word of the statute, including every discrete
172	172	application of the provision, section, subsection, sentence,
173	173	clause, phrase, or word to any person, group of persons, or
174	174	circumstance, is severable.
175	175	(b) If any application of any statutory provision, section,
176	176	subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word to any person, group
177	177	of persons, or circumstance is determined by a court to be invalid,
178	178	preempted, or unconstitutional, regardless of the reason, all
179	179	remaining applications of that statutory provision, section,
180	180	subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word to any other person,
181	181	group of persons, or circumstance shall be severed and preserved
182	182	and remain in effect.
183	183	(c) It is the intent of the legislature that every valid,
184	184	non-preempted, and constitutional application of its statutory
185	185	enactments be allowed to stand alone and remain enforceable.
186	186	(d) A court may not decline to enforce the severability
187	187	requirements of this section on the grounds that the severance
188	188	would rewrite the statute or involve the court in legislative or
189	189	lawmaking activity. A court that declines to enforce, or that
190	190	enjoins a state official from enforcing, wholly or partly, a
191	191	statute is not considered to be rewriting a statute or engaging in
192	192	legislative or lawmaking activity because the statute continues to
193	193	contain the same words as before the court's decision. A judicial
194	194	injunction or declaration of unconstitutionality:
195	195	(1) is only an edict prohibiting enforcement of the
196	196	disputed statute against the parties to that lawsuit and may
197	197	subsequently be vacated by a higher court based on a different
198	198	understanding of the law;
199	199	(2) is not a formal amendment of the language in a
200	200	statute; and
201	201	(3) does not rewrite the statute any more than a
202	202	decision by the executive not to enforce a duly enacted statute in a
203	203	limited and defined set of circumstances.
204	204	(e) If a court, in violation of this section, declares or
205	205	finds any statutory provision, section, subsection, sentence,
206	206	clause, phrase, or word to be facially or totally invalid,
207	207	preempted, or unconstitutional, when there are discrete
208	208	applications of that statutory provision, section, subsection,
209	209	sentence, clause, phrase, or word that could be enforced against a
210	210	person, group of persons, or circumstance without violating federal
211	211	law or the federal or state constitutions, then that statutory
212	212	provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word
213	213	shall be interpreted, as a matter of state law, as if the
214	214	legislature had explicitly limited its application to the person,
215	215	group of persons, or circumstance for which its application will
216	216	not violate federal law or the federal or state constitutions, and
217	217	every court shall adopt and apply this saving construction until
218	218	the court ruling declaring the statutory provision, section,
219	219	subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word facially or totally
220	220	invalid, preempted, or unconstitutional is vacated or overturned.
221	221	SECTION 10. Sections 311.021, 311.023, 311.032, 312.005,
222	222	312.006, 312.012, and 312.013, Government Code, are repealed.
223	223	SECTION 11. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.