By:  Hilbert                                          H.B. No. 1250
       73R3457 DAK-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the mandatory referral of civil suits by certain
    1-3  district courts for resolution by alternative dispute resolution
    1-4  procedures.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 154, Civil Practice and
    1-7  Remedies Code, is amended by adding Section 154.0225 to read as
    1-8  follows:
    1-9        Sec. 154.0225.  MANDATORY REFERRAL BY CERTAIN DISTRICT
   1-10  COURTS.  (a)  A district court located in a county in which there
   1-11  is a dispute resolution center supported in whole or in part by the
   1-12  fee authorized by Section 152.004 shall, on its own motion, refer a
   1-13  civil suit filed before it for resolution by an alternative dispute
   1-14  resolution procedure, including a procedure listed in Section
   1-15  154.021(a).
   1-16        (b)  The court shall confer with the parties in the
   1-17  determination of the most appropriate alternative dispute
   1-18  resolution procedure.  The court shall notify the parties of its
   1-19  determination.
   1-20        (c)  Each party to the pending dispute must file an affidavit
   1-21  with the court before the first anniversary of the date that the
   1-22  suit was filed stating that the party has begun participation in
   1-23  the alternative dispute resolution procedure to which the court
   1-24  referred the suit.
    2-1        (d)  If the court does not receive the affidavit required by
    2-2  a party under Subsection (c), the court shall, on its own motion or
    2-3  the motion of a party, and after notice to all parties, hold a
    2-4  hearing to determine the appropriate sanction for the party that
    2-5  did not submit the affidavit.
    2-6        SECTION 2.  Section 154.021(a), Civil Practice and Remedies
    2-7  Code, is amended to read as follows:
    2-8        (a)  Except for a court for which referral is mandatory under
    2-9  Section 154.0225, a <A> court may, on its own motion or the motion
   2-10  of a party, refer a pending dispute for resolution by an
   2-11  alternative dispute resolution procedure including:
   2-12              (1)  an alternative dispute resolution system
   2-13  established under Chapter 152 <26, Acts of the 68th Legislature,
   2-14  Regular Session, 1983 (Article 2372aa, Vernon's Texas Civil
   2-15  Statutes)>;
   2-16              (2)  a dispute resolution organization; or
   2-17              (3)  a nonjudicial and informally conducted forum for
   2-18  the voluntary settlement of citizens' disputes through the
   2-19  intervention of an impartial third party, including those
   2-20  alternative dispute resolution procedures described under this
   2-21  subchapter.
   2-22        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993, and
   2-23  applies only to a suit filed on or after that date.  A suit filed
   2-24  before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in
   2-25  effect at the time the suit was filed, and that law is continued in
   2-26  effect for that purpose.
   2-27        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-1  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-2  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-3  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-4  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.