1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the admissibility in a civil action of certain
 1-3     communications of sympathy.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Chapter 18, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
 1-6     amended by adding Subchapter C to read as follows:
 1-7                        SUBCHAPTER C.  ADMISSIBILITY
 1-8           Sec. 18.061.  COMMUNICATIONS OF SYMPATHY.  (a)  A court in a
 1-9     civil action may not admit a communication that:
1-10                 (1)  expresses sympathy or a general sense of
1-11     benevolence relating to the pain, suffering, or death of an
1-12     individual involved in an accident;
1-13                 (2)  is made to the individual or a person related to
1-14     the individual within the second degree by consanguinity or
1-15     affinity, as determined under Subchapter B, Chapter 573, Government
1-16     Code; and
1-17                 (3)  is offered to prove liability of the communicator
1-18     in relation to the individual.
1-19           (b)  In this section, "communication" means:
1-20                 (1)  a statement;
1-21                 (2)  a writing; or
1-22                 (3)  a gesture that conveys a sense of compassion or
1-23     commiseration emanating from humane impulses.
1-24           (c)  Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsections (a) and
 2-1     (b), a communication, including an excited utterance as defined by
 2-2     Rule 803(2) of the Texas Rules of Evidence, which also includes a
 2-3     statement or statements concerning negligence or culpable conduct
 2-4     pertaining to an accident or event, is admissible to prove
 2-5     liability of the communicator.
 2-6           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
 2-7     applies only to the admissibility of a communication in a
 2-8     proceeding that begins on or after that date.  The admissibility of
 2-9     a communication in a proceeding that began before the effective
2-10     date of this Act is governed by the law applicable to the
2-11     admissibility of the communication immediately before the effective
2-12     date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that
2-13     purpose.
2-14           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-15     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-16     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-17     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-18     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
         _______________________________     _______________________________
             President of the Senate              Speaker of the House
               I certify that H.B. No. 512 was passed by the House on April
         15, 1999, by a non-record vote.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Chief Clerk of the House
               I certify that H.B. No. 512 was passed by the Senate on May
         26, 1999, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays 0.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Secretary of the Senate
         APPROVED:  _____________________
                            Date
                    _____________________
                          Governor