89R13330 MAW-F
By: Vasut H.B. No. 113
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to statutory construction.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 311.016(2) and (3), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(2) "Shall" imposes a duty. The use of "shall" does not
indicate that an action is discretionary.
(3) "Must" imposes a requirement and either creates a
duty or creates or recognizes a condition precedent.
SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 311, Government Code, is
amended by adding Sections 311.0211, 311.0212, and 311.0213 to read
as follows:
Sec. 311.0211. INTENTIONALISM PROHIBITED. When
interpreting a statute, a court:
(1) may not inquire into what members of the
legislature intended to accomplish by enacting the statute; and
(2) shall enforce the statutory text as written and in
accordance with the meaning that the words of the statute would have
to an ordinary speaker of the English language.
Sec. 311.0212. USE OF LEGISLATURE HISTORY PROHIBITED. When
interpreting a statute, a court may not consider, consult, cite,
rely on, or give any weight to:
(1) any statement from an individual legislator,
including a statement by the author or sponsor of the bill that
enacted the statute or a statement made during a committee hearing
or debate of the bill on the floor of a house of the legislature;
(2) a committee report; or
(3) a statement of a presiding officer or the governor
made on the signing of the bill.
Sec. 311.0213. DEFERENCE TO AGENCY CONSTRUCTION
PROHIBITED. Notwithstanding any other law, a court is not required
to give deference to any construction of a statute by a state agency
responsible for administering, implementing, or enforcing the
statute. This section does not prohibit a court from considering a
state agency's construction of a statute if that construction is
reasonable and does not conflict with the plain language of the
statute.
SECTION 3. Section 311.025(c), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(c) In determining whether amendments are irreconcilable,
text that is reenacted because of the requirement of Article III,
Section 36, of the Texas Constitution is not considered to be
irreconcilable with additions or omissions in the same text made by
another amendment. Unless clearly indicated to the contrary, an
amendment that reenacts text in compliance with that constitutional
requirement does not mean [indicate legislative intent] that the
reenacted text prevails [prevail] over changes in the same text
made by another amendment, regardless of the relative dates of
enactment.
SECTION 4. Section 311.026(b), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(b) If the conflict between the general provision and the
special or local provision is irreconcilable, the special or local
provision prevails as an exception to the general provision, unless
the general provision is the later enactment and clearly and
unambiguously supersedes the special or local provision [the
manifest intent is that the general provision prevail].
SECTION 5. Section 311.028, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 311.028. UNIFORM CONSTRUCTION OF UNIFORM ACTS. A
uniform act included in a code shall be construed, when possible,
[to effect its general purpose] to make uniform the law of those
states that enact it.
SECTION 6. Subchapter C, Chapter 311, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 311.0311 to read as follows:
Sec. 311.0311. SEVERABILITY AND SAVING CONSTRUCTIONS. (a)
Unless a statute contains a provision expressly providing for
nonseverability, every provision, section, subsection, sentence,
clause, phrase, and word of the statute, including every discrete
application of the provision, section, subsection, sentence,
clause, phrase, or word to any person, group of persons, or
circumstance, is severable.
(b) If any application of any statutory provision, section,
subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word to any person, group
of persons, or circumstance is determined by a court to be invalid,
preempted, or unconstitutional, regardless of the reason, all
remaining applications of that statutory provision, section,
subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word to any other person,
group of persons, or circumstance shall be severed and preserved
and remain in effect.
(c) It is the intent of the legislature that every valid,
non-preempted, and constitutional application of its statutory
enactments be allowed to stand alone and remain enforceable.
(d) A court may not decline to enforce the severability
requirements of this section on the grounds that the severance
would rewrite the statute or involve the court in legislative or
lawmaking activity. A court that declines to enforce, or that
enjoins a state official from enforcing, wholly or partly, a
statute is not considered to be rewriting a statute or engaging in
legislative or lawmaking activity because the statute continues to
contain the same words as before the court's decision. A judicial
injunction or declaration of unconstitutionality:
(1) is only an edict prohibiting enforcement of the
disputed statute against the parties to that lawsuit and may
subsequently be vacated by a higher court based on a different
understanding of the law;
(2) is not a formal amendment of the language in a
statute; and
(3) does not rewrite the statute any more than a
decision by the executive not to enforce a duly enacted statute in a
limited and defined set of circumstances.
(e) If a court, in violation of this section, declares or
finds any statutory provision, section, subsection, sentence,
clause, phrase, or word to be facially or totally invalid,
preempted, or unconstitutional, when there are discrete
applications of that statutory provision, section, subsection,
sentence, clause, phrase, or word that could be enforced against a
person, group of persons, or circumstance without violating federal
law or the federal or state constitutions, then that statutory
provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word
shall be interpreted, as a matter of state law, as if the
legislature had explicitly limited its application to the person,
group of persons, or circumstance for which its application will
not violate federal law or the federal or state constitutions, and
every court shall adopt and apply this saving construction until
the court ruling declaring the statutory provision, section,
subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word facially or totally
invalid, preempted, or unconstitutional is vacated or overturned.
SECTION 7. Section 311.034, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 311.034. WAIVER OF SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY; JURISDICTIONAL
REQUIREMENTS. In order to preserve the legislature's interest in
managing state fiscal matters through the appropriations process, a
statute shall not be construed as a waiver of sovereign immunity
unless the waiver is effected by clear and unambiguous language. In
a statute, the use of "person," as defined by Section 311.005 to
include governmental entities, does not [indicate legislative
intent to] waive sovereign immunity unless the context of the
statute indicates no other reasonable construction. Statutory
prerequisites to a suit, including the provision of notice, are
jurisdictional requirements in all suits against a governmental
entity.
SECTION 8. Subchapter C, Chapter 311, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 311.037 to read as follows:
Sec. 311.037. GRAMMATICAL OR SCRIVENER'S ERROR. A
grammatical or scrivener's error does not vitiate a law. A court
construing a statute that contains a grammatical or scrivener's
error that would be apparent to an ordinary reader of the English
language may interpret the statute consistent with the
understanding of the statute by an ordinary reader of the English
language.
SECTION 9. Subchapter A, Chapter 312, Government Code, is
amended by adding Sections 312.0051, 312.0052, 312.0053, 312.0081,
and 312.0082 to read as follows:
Sec. 312.0051. INTENTIONALISM PROHIBITED. When
interpreting a statute, a court:
(1) may not inquire into what members of the
legislature intended to accomplish by enacting the statute; and
(2) shall enforce the statutory text as written and in
accordance with the meaning that the words of the statute would have
to an ordinary speaker of the English language.
Sec. 312.0052. USE OF LEGISLATURE HISTORY PROHIBITED. When
interpreting a statute, a court may not consider, consult, cite,
rely on, or give any weight to:
(1) any statement from an individual legislator,
including a statement by the author or sponsor of the bill that
enacted the statute or a statement made during a committee hearing
or debate of the bill on the floor of a house of the legislature;
(2) a committee report; or
(3) a statement of a presiding officer or the governor
made on the signing of the bill.
Sec. 312.0053. DEFERENCE TO AGENCY CONSTRUCTION
PROHIBITED. Notwithstanding any other law, a court is not required
to give deference to any construction of a statute by a state agency
responsible for administering, implementing, or enforcing the
statute. This section does not prohibit a court from considering a
state agency's construction of a statute if that construction is
reasonable and does not conflict with the plain language of the
statute.
Sec. 312.0081. GRAMMATICAL OR SCRIVENER'S ERROR. A
grammatical or scrivener's error does not vitiate a law. A court
construing a statute that contains a grammatical or scrivener's
error that would be apparent to an ordinary reader of the English
language may interpret the statute consistent with the
understanding of the statute by an ordinary reader of the English
language.
Sec. 312.0082. SEVERABILITY AND SAVING CONSTRUCTIONS. (a)
Unless a statute contains a provision expressly providing for
nonseverability, every provision, section, subsection, sentence,
clause, phrase, and word of the statute, including every discrete
application of the provision, section, subsection, sentence,
clause, phrase, or word to any person, group of persons, or
circumstance, is severable.
(b) If any application of any statutory provision, section,
subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word to any person, group
of persons, or circumstance is determined by a court to be invalid,
preempted, or unconstitutional, regardless of the reason, all
remaining applications of that statutory provision, section,
subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word to any other person,
group of persons, or circumstance shall be severed and preserved
and remain in effect.
(c) It is the intent of the legislature that every valid,
non-preempted, and constitutional application of its statutory
enactments be allowed to stand alone and remain enforceable.
(d) A court may not decline to enforce the severability
requirements of this section on the grounds that the severance
would rewrite the statute or involve the court in legislative or
lawmaking activity. A court that declines to enforce, or that
enjoins a state official from enforcing, wholly or partly, a
statute is not considered to be rewriting a statute or engaging in
legislative or lawmaking activity because the statute continues to
contain the same words as before the court's decision. A judicial
injunction or declaration of unconstitutionality:
(1) is only an edict prohibiting enforcement of the
disputed statute against the parties to that lawsuit and may
subsequently be vacated by a higher court based on a different
understanding of the law;
(2) is not a formal amendment of the language in a
statute; and
(3) does not rewrite the statute any more than a
decision by the executive not to enforce a duly enacted statute in a
limited and defined set of circumstances.
(e) If a court, in violation of this section, declares or
finds any statutory provision, section, subsection, sentence,
clause, phrase, or word to be facially or totally invalid,
preempted, or unconstitutional, when there are discrete
applications of that statutory provision, section, subsection,
sentence, clause, phrase, or word that could be enforced against a
person, group of persons, or circumstance without violating federal
law or the federal or state constitutions, then that statutory
provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word
shall be interpreted, as a matter of state law, as if the
legislature had explicitly limited its application to the person,
group of persons, or circumstance for which its application will
not violate federal law or the federal or state constitutions, and
every court shall adopt and apply this saving construction until
the court ruling declaring the statutory provision, section,
subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word facially or totally
invalid, preempted, or unconstitutional is vacated or overturned.
SECTION 10. Sections 311.021, 311.023, 311.032, 312.005,
312.006, 312.012, and 312.013, Government Code, are repealed.
SECTION 11. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.