By Dunnam                                       H.B. No. 1425

      75R6222 DLF-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to interlocutory appeal of certain court orders relating

 1-3     to arbitration.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 51.014, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,

 1-6     is amended to read as follows:

 1-7           Sec. 51.014.  APPEAL FROM INTERLOCUTORY ORDER.  A person may

 1-8     appeal from an interlocutory order of a district court, county

 1-9     court at law, or county court that:

1-10                 (1)  appoints a receiver or trustee;

1-11                 (2)  overrules a motion to vacate an order that

1-12     appoints a receiver or trustee;

1-13                 (3)  certifies or refuses to certify a class in a suit

1-14     brought under Rule 42 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure;

1-15                 (4)  grants or refuses a temporary injunction or grants

1-16     or overrules a motion to dissolve a temporary injunction as

1-17     provided by Chapter 65;

1-18                 (5)  denies a motion for summary judgment that is based

1-19     on an assertion of immunity by an individual who is an officer or

1-20     employee of the state or a political subdivision of the state; [or]

1-21                 (6)  denies a motion for summary judgment that is based

1-22     in whole or in part upon a claim against or defense by a member of

1-23     the electronic or print media, acting in such capacity, or a person

1-24     whose communication appears in or is published by the electronic or

 2-1     print media, arising under the free speech or free press clause of

 2-2     the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, or  Article

 2-3     1, Section 8, of the Texas Constitution, or Chapter 73; or

 2-4                 (7)  under any federal law authorizing arbitration,

 2-5     including the  federal arbitration law (9 U.S.C. Section 1 et

 2-6     seq.):

 2-7                       (A)  denies an application to compel arbitration;

 2-8                       (B)  grants an application to stay arbitration;

 2-9                       (C)  confirms or denies confirmation of an

2-10     arbitration award;

2-11                       (D)  modifies or corrects an arbitration award;

2-12     or

2-13                       (E)  without directing a rehearing, vacates an

2-14     arbitration award.

2-15           SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to an order issued by a

2-16     court on or after the effective date of this Act.  An order issued

2-17     before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it

2-18     existed immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that

2-19     law is continued in effect for that purpose.

2-20           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-21           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-22     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-23     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-24     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-25     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.