By:  Holzheauser                                       H.B. No. 464
       73R2880 RJA-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to referral fees received by district and county
    1-3  attorneys.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 41, Government Code, is
    1-6  amended by adding Section 41.014 to read as follows:
    1-7        Sec. 41.014.  REFERRAL FEES PROHIBITED.  A district or county
    1-8  attorney may not collect a fee for referring a civil case to
    1-9  another attorney or law firm.
   1-10        SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to collection of fees for
   1-11  referrals of civil cases made on or after the effective date of
   1-12  this Act.  The collection of a fee for a referral made before the
   1-13  effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect at the
   1-14  time the referral was made, and that law is continued in effect for
   1-15  that purpose.
   1-16        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-17  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-18  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-19  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-20  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-21  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-22  passage, and it is so enacted.