H.B. No. 674
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the authority of a court to refer a case to alternative
1-3 dispute resolution.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 154.021, Civil Practice and Remedies
1-6 Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-7 Sec. 154.021. Referral of Pending Disputes for Alternative
1-8 Dispute Resolution Procedure. (a) Except as limited by Subsection
1-9 (c), a <A> court may, on its own motion or the motion of a party,
1-10 refer a pending dispute for resolution by an alternative dispute
1-11 resolution procedure including:
1-12 (1) an alternative dispute resolution system
1-13 established under Chapter 152 <26, Acts of the 68th Legislature,
1-14 Regular Session, 1983 (Article 2372aa, Vernon's Texas Civil
1-15 Statutes)>;
1-16 (2) a dispute resolution organization; or
1-17 (3) a nonjudicial and informally conducted forum for
1-18 the voluntary settlement of citizens' disputes through the
1-19 intervention of an impartial third party, including those
1-20 alternative dispute resolution procedures described under this
1-21 subchapter.
1-22 (b) The court shall confer with the parties in the
1-23 determination of the most appropriate alternative dispute
1-24 resolution procedure.
2-1 (c) The court may not refer a dispute for alternative
2-2 dispute resolution if any of the following motions are pending
2-3 before the court in that dispute:
2-4 (1) a motion to transfer venue; or
2-5 (2) a motion for special appearance.
2-6 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
2-7 applies only to disputes referred under Section 154.021(a), Civil
2-8 Practice and Remedies Code, on or after that date. A dispute
2-9 referred under that section before September 1, 1993, is governed
2-10 by the law as it existed on the date the dispute was referred, and
2-11 that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
2-12 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the
2-13 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-14 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-15 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-16 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.