By Raymond                                      H.B. No. 2401

      75R8206 ESH-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the ability of a public fire suppression entity to

 1-3     recover the cost of controlling or extinguishing a fire that is

 1-4     intentionally set.

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

 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subtitle C, Title 9, Health and Safety Code, is

 1-7     amended by adding Chapter 796 to read as follows:

 1-8                     CHAPTER 796. FIRE PROTECTION COSTS

 1-9           Sec. 796.001.  ACTIONS TO RECOVER COSTS OF FIRE PROTECTION.

1-10     (a) A county, state agency, or other public fire suppression entity

1-11     may recover from a person the reasonable costs incurred by the fire

1-12     suppression entity in furnishing fire protection to control or

1-13     extinguish a fire that:

1-14                 (1)  is intentionally set by the person; or

1-15                 (2)  is the result of conduct for which the person is

1-16     adjudged guilty of an offense under Section 28.02, Penal Code.

1-17           (b)  If a determination is made during a criminal trial that

1-18     a person committed an offense under Section 28.02, Penal Code, and

1-19     as a result of the offense the person caused an incident resulting

1-20     in a fire suppression response by a county, state agency, or other

1-21     public fire suppression entity, the court may include the

1-22     obligation for the liability as part of the judgment.  A judgment

1-23     that includes such an obligation is enforceable as any other

1-24     judgment.

 2-1           (c)  The liability is a debt of the person to the county,

 2-2     state agency, or other public fire suppression entity, and the debt

 2-3     may be collected in the same manner as a public agency collects an

 2-4     express or implied contractual obligation.

 2-5           Sec. 796.002.  LIMIT OF LIABILITY.  A person's liability

 2-6     under Section 796.001 for the reasonable expense of a response may

 2-7     not exceed $5,000 for a particular incident.  For the purposes of

 2-8     this section, a reasonable expense for a response includes only

 2-9     those costs directly arising from the response to a particular

2-10     incident, including the costs of any salary of the fire suppression

2-11     personnel who participated in the response to the incident.

2-12           Sec. 796.003.  STATEMENT OF EXPENSE.  A statement of  the

2-13     expense of a county, state agency, or other public fire suppression

2-14     entity for the provision of fire protection for an incident must

2-15     contain an itemized accounting of the components of the total

2-16     charge.

2-17           Sec. 796.004.  JURISDICTION AND VENUE.  Jurisdiction and

2-18     venue of an action under Section 796.001 are in the district court,

2-19     county court at law, or justice court of the area where the fire

2-20     occurred.

2-21           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and

2-22     applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after that

2-23     date.  An action that accrued before the effective date of this Act

2-24     is governed by the law applicable to the action as it existed

2-25     immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is

2-26     continued in effect for that purpose.

2-27           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

 3-1     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 3-2     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-3     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-4     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.