By:  Brown                                              S.B. No. 15
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the liability of a person who manufactures or delivers
    1-2  certain illegal substances for damages arising from the use of the
    1-3  substances.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, is amended
    1-6  by adding Subchapter H to read as follows:
    1-7                    SUBCHAPTER H.  CIVIL LIABILITY
    1-8        Sec. 481.231.  LIABILITY OF MANUFACTURER OR DELIVERER.  A
    1-9  person who manufactures or delivers a controlled substance in
   1-10  violation of Section 481.112, 481.113, 481.114, 481.119, 481.120,
   1-11  481.122, or 481.123 is liable to a person who uses the controlled
   1-12  substance for any damages arising from property damage, personal
   1-13  injury, or death proximately caused by that use, including:
   1-14              (1)  damages both to the user and to other persons
   1-15  arising as a result of the influence of the controlled substance on
   1-16  the behavior or judgment of the user; and
   1-17              (2)  damages relating to the long-term physical,
   1-18  emotional, and psychological effects of the controlled substance on
   1-19  the user.
   1-20        Sec. 481.232.  MORE THAN ONE MANUFACTURER OR SELLER.  A
   1-21  person who manufactures or delivers a controlled substance is
   1-22  liable to a user under Section 481.231 for damages caused by the
   1-23  use of the controlled substance by the user even if the person is
   1-24  not the sole source of the controlled substance for the user if the
    2-1  user can show that the controlled substance manufactured or
    2-2  delivered by the person and used by the user significantly
    2-3  contributed to the damages caused by the use of the controlled
    2-4  substance by the user.
    2-5        Sec. 481.233.  CERTAIN PROPERTY EXEMPT.  Property that is
    2-6  seized and forfeited under Chapter 59, Code of Criminal Procedure,
    2-7  is exempt from attachment, execution, and seizure for the
    2-8  satisfaction of a judgment under this subchapter against a person
    2-9  who manufactures or delivers a controlled substance.
   2-10        SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to damages caused by the
   2-11  use of a controlled substance, as that term is defined by Section
   2-12  481.002, Health and Safety Code, on or after the effective date of
   2-13  this Act.
   2-14        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-15  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-16  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-17  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-18  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-19  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-20  passage, and it is so enacted.