By:  Brimer                                            H.B. No. 204
       73R1754 DLF-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to liability and liability insurance coverage for damages
    1-3  for a motor vehicle accident caused by certain family members.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Title 4, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Chapter 85 to read as follows:
    1-7         CHAPTER 85.  INTERFAMILIAL IMMUNITY FOR MOTOR VEHICLE
    1-8                               ACCIDENT
    1-9        Sec. 85.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
   1-10              (1)  "Child" means a natural or adoptive son or
   1-11  daughter of any age.
   1-12              (2)  "Parent" means the mother, the man presumed to be
   1-13  the biological father, a man adjudicated to be the biological
   1-14  father, or an adoptive mother or father, but does not include a
   1-15  parent as to whom the parent-child relationship has been
   1-16  terminated.
   1-17        Sec. 85.002.  LIABILITY OF FAMILY MEMBER.   (a)  An
   1-18  individual may not recover damages from a parent, child, or spouse
   1-19  of that individual for personal injury, death, or property damage
   1-20  resulting from the operation, maintenance, or use of a motor
   1-21  vehicle.
   1-22        (b)  This section continues to apply if the spousal
   1-23  relationship is severed by divorce after the act or omission from
   1-24  which the personal injury, death, or property damage arose.
    2-1        SECTION 2.  Section 21, Texas Motor Vehicle
    2-2  Safety-Responsibility Act (Article 6701h, Vernon's Texas Civil
    2-3  Statutes), is amended by adding Subsection (b-1) to read as
    2-4  follows:
    2-5        (b-1)  The owner's policy of liability insurance must exclude
    2-6  coverage for the liability of an individual insured under the
    2-7  policy for a bodily injury or property damage sustained by the
    2-8  insured or a parent, child, or spouse of the insured.  In this
    2-9  subsection, "parent" and "child" have the meanings assigned by
   2-10  Section 85.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code.
   2-11        SECTION 3.  Article 5.06, Insurance Code, is amended by
   2-12  adding Subsection (9) to read as follows:
   2-13        (9)  A policy form adopted under this article must exclude
   2-14  coverage for the liability of an individual insured under the
   2-15  policy for bodily injury or property damage sustained by the
   2-16  insured or a parent, child, or spouse of the insured.  In this
   2-17  subsection, "parent" and "child" have the meanings assigned by
   2-18  Section 85.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code.
   2-19        SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-20        SECTION 5.  Section 1 of this Act applies to a cause of
   2-21  action that accrues on or after the effective date of this Act.  An
   2-22  action that accrued before the effective date of this Act is
   2-23  governed by the law in effect at the time the action accrued, and
   2-24  that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
   2-25        SECTION 6.  Sections 2 and 3 of this Act apply only to an
   2-26  insurance policy that is delivered, issued for delivery, or renewed
   2-27  on or after January 1, l994.  A policy that is delivered, issued
    3-1  for delivery, or renewed before January 1, 1994, is governed by the
    3-2  law as it existed immediately before the effective date of this
    3-3  Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
    3-4        SECTION 7.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-5  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-6  emergency   and   an   imperative   public   necessity   that   the
    3-7  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-8  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.