By:  Leedom                                             S.B. No. 56
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the doctrine of forum non conveniens in certain
    1-2  judicial proceedings.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Chapter 30, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
    1-5  amended by adding Section 30.007 to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 30.007.  INCONVENIENT FORUM (FORUM NON CONVENIENS).  If
    1-7  a court of this state, on motion of any party, finds that this
    1-8  state is an inconvenient or inappropriate forum in which to try an
    1-9  action and that in the interest of justice the action is more
   1-10  properly heard in a forum outside this state, the court may decline
   1-11  to exercise jurisdiction under the doctrine of forum non conveniens
   1-12  and may stay or dismiss the action in whole or in part.
   1-13        SECTION 2.  Section 51.014, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,
   1-14  is amended to read as follows:
   1-15        Sec. 51.014.  APPEAL FROM INTERLOCUTORY ORDER.  A person may
   1-16  appeal from an interlocutory order of a district court, county
   1-17  court at law, or county court that:
   1-18              (1)  appoints a receiver or trustee;
   1-19              (2)  overrules a motion to vacate an order that
   1-20  appoints a receiver or trustee;
   1-21              (3)  certifies or refuses to certify a class in a suit
   1-22  brought under Rule 42 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure;
   1-23              (4)  grants or refuses a temporary injunction or grants
    2-1  or overrules a motion to dissolve a temporary injunction as
    2-2  provided by Chapter 65; <or>
    2-3              (5)  denies a motion for summary judgment that is based
    2-4  on an assertion of immunity by an individual who is an officer or
    2-5  employee of the state or a political subdivision of the state; or
    2-6              (6)  denies a motion to stay or dismiss an action on
    2-7  the basis of the doctrine of forum non conveniens as provided by
    2-8  Section 30.007.
    2-9        SECTION 3.  Section 71.031, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,
   2-10  is amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
   2-11        (d)  A court may stay or dismiss an action in whole or in
   2-12  part on the basis of the doctrine of forum non conveniens as
   2-13  provided by Section 30.007.
   2-14        SECTION 4.  The provisions of this Act are remedial in nature
   2-15  and apply to an action commenced on or after the effective date of
   2-16  this Act and to any action pending on or after the effective date
   2-17  of this Act in which final judgment has not been entered.
   2-18        SECTION 5.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-19  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-20  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-21  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-22  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-23  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-24  passage, and it is so enacted.