By Corte                                                H.B. No. 18

      75R652 DLF-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to liability for injury arising from a motor vehicle

 1-3     accident to a driver who fails to maintain financial

 1-4     responsibility.

 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 601, Transportation Code,

 1-7     is amended by adding Section 601.0085 to read as follows:

 1-8           Sec. 601.0085.  LIABILITY FOR INJURY TO OPERATOR WHO FAILS TO

 1-9     MAINTAIN FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.  (a)  A person may not obtain

1-10     noneconomic damages or exemplary damages in a civil action for

1-11     bodily injury, death, or damage to or destruction of property

1-12     arising out of a motor vehicle accident if, at the time of the

1-13     accident, the person:

1-14                 (1)  is the operator of a motor vehicle involved in the

1-15     accident; and

1-16                 (2)  is operating the motor vehicle in violation of

1-17     Section 601.051.

1-18           (b)  Subsection (a) applies to a claim for damages made by a

1-19     person whose right to recovery derives from an injury to a person

1-20     whose right to recovery of noneconomic and exemplary damages would

1-21     be barred under Subsection (a), including a claim for wrongful

1-22     death or for loss of consortium or companionship.

1-23           (c)  In this section:

1-24                 (1)  "Exemplary damages" has the meaning assigned by

 2-1     Section 41.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code.

 2-2                 (2)  "Noneconomic damages" means damages to compensate

 2-3     the operator for a loss other than a pecuniary loss, including

 2-4     damages for physical pain and mental anguish, loss of consortium,

 2-5     loss associated with disfigurement or physical impairment, and loss

 2-6     of companionship and society.

 2-7           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

 2-8     applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after the

 2-9     effective date of this Act.  An action that accrued before the

2-10     effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it existed at

2-11     the time the cause of action accrued, and that law is continued in

2-12     effect for that purpose.

2-13           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-14     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-15     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-16     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-17     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.