74R8471 CAG-D
          By Raymond                                            H.B. No. 2030
          Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2030:
          By Longoria                                       C.S.H.B. No. 2030
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the ability of a county, state agency, or other fire
    1-3  suppression entity to recover the cost of furnishing fire
    1-4  protection for a negligently, recklessly, or intentionally set
    1-5  fire.
    1-6        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-7        SECTION 1.  Subtitle C, Title 11, Local Government Code, is
    1-8  amended by adding Chapter 363 to read as follows:
    1-9                  CHAPTER 363. FIRE PROTECTION COSTS
   1-10        Sec. 363.001.  ACTIONS TO RECOVER COSTS OF FIRE PROTECTION.
   1-11  (a) A county, state agency, or other public fire suppression entity
   1-12  may recover from a person the reasonable costs incurred by the
   1-13  county, state agency, or other public fire suppression entity in
   1-14  furnishing fire protection to control or extinguish a fire if:
   1-15              (1)  the fire is negligently, recklessly, or
   1-16  intentionally set by the person; or
   1-17              (2)  the fire is the result of a person's conduct for
   1-18  which the person is adjudged guilty of an offense under Section
   1-19  28.02 or 28.04, Penal Code.
   1-20        (b)  If a determination is made during a criminal trial that
   1-21  a person committed an offense under Section 28.02 or 28.04, Penal
   1-22  Code, and as a result of the offense the person caused an incident
   1-23  resulting in a fire suppression response by a county, state agency,
   1-24  or other public fire suppression entity, the court may include the
    2-1  obligation for the liability as part of the judgment.  A judgment
    2-2  that includes such an obligation is enforceable as any other
    2-3  judgment.
    2-4        (c)  The liability is a debt of the person to the county,
    2-5  state agency, or other public fire suppression entity, and the debt
    2-6  may be collected in the same manner as a public agency collects an
    2-7  express or implied contractual obligation.
    2-8        (d)  A person's liability under this section for the
    2-9  reasonable expense of a response may not exceed $5,000 for a
   2-10  particular incident.  For the purposes of this subsection, a
   2-11  reasonable expense for a response includes only those costs
   2-12  directly arising from the response to a particular incident,
   2-13  including the costs of any salary of the fire suppression personnel
   2-14  who participated in the response to the incident.
   2-15        (e)  A bill for the expense of a county, state agency, or
   2-16  other public fire suppression entity for the provision of fire
   2-17  protection for an incident must contain an itemized accounting of
   2-18  the components of the total charge.
   2-19        (f)  Jurisdiction and venue of an action under this section
   2-20  are in the district court, county court at law, or justice court of
   2-21  the area where the fire occurred.
   2-22        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995, and
   2-23  applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after that
   2-24  date.  An action that accrued before the effective date of this Act
   2-25  is governed by the law applicable to the action as it existed
   2-26  immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
   2-27  continued in effect for that purpose.
    3-1        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
    3-2  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
    3-3  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
    3-4  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
    3-5  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.