AN ACT

 1-1     relating to the appeal of certain interlocutory orders.

 1-2           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-3           SECTION 1.  Section 51.014, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,

 1-4     is amended to read as follows:

 1-5           Sec. 51.014.  APPEAL FROM INTERLOCUTORY ORDER.  (a)  A person

 1-6     may appeal from an interlocutory order of a district court, county

 1-7     court at law, or county court that:

 1-8                 (1)  appoints a receiver or trustee;

 1-9                 (2)  overrules a motion to vacate an order that

1-10     appoints a receiver or trustee;

1-11                 (3)  certifies or refuses to certify a class in a suit

1-12     brought under Rule 42 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure;

1-13                 (4)  grants or refuses a temporary injunction or grants

1-14     or overrules a motion to dissolve a temporary injunction as

1-15     provided by Chapter 65;

1-16                 (5)  denies a motion for summary judgment that is based

1-17     on an assertion of immunity by an individual who is an officer or

1-18     employee of the state or a political subdivision of the state; [or]

1-19                 (6)  denies a motion for summary judgment that is based

1-20     in whole or in part upon a claim against or defense by a member of

1-21     the electronic or print media, acting in such capacity, or a person

1-22     whose communication appears in or is published by the electronic or

1-23     print media, arising under the free speech or free press clause of

 2-1     the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, or Article

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

 2-3                 (7)  grants or denies the special appearance of a

 2-4     defendant under Rule 120a, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, except

 2-5     in a suit brought under the Family Code; or

 2-6                 (8)  grants or denies a plea to the jurisdiction by a

 2-7     governmental unit as that term is defined in Section 101.001.

 2-8           (b)  An interlocutory appeal under Subsection (a) shall have

 2-9     the effect of staying the commencement of a trial in the trial

2-10     court pending resolution of the appeal.

2-11           SECTION 2.  (a)  This Act applies only to a civil action:

2-12                 (1)  commenced on or after the effective date of this

2-13     Act; or

2-14                 (2)  commenced before the effective date of this Act

2-15     but pending on the effective date of this Act and in which the

2-16     trial, or any new trial or retrial following motion, or appeal, or

2-17     otherwise, begins on or after that date.

2-18           (b)  An action commenced before the effective date of this

2-19     Act and in which the trial or any new trial or retrial is in

2-20     progress on that date is governed by the law applicable to the

2-21     action immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that

2-22     law is continued in effect for that purpose.

2-23           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-24     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-25     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

 3-3     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

 3-4     passage, and it is so enacted.

         _______________________________     _______________________________

             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House

               I hereby certify that S.B. No. 453 passed the Senate on

         April 2, 1997, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.

                                             _______________________________

                                                 Secretary of the Senate

               I hereby certify that S.B. No. 453 passed the House on

         May 27, 1997, by the following vote:  Yeas 146, Nays 0, one present

         not voting.

                                             _______________________________

                                                 Chief Clerk of the House

         Approved:

         _______________________________

                     Date

         _______________________________

                   Governor