By Gray, McReynolds                                    H.B. No. 512
         76R736 DAK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 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           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
 2-1     applies only to the admissibility of a communication in a
 2-2     proceeding that begins on or after that date.  The admissibility of
 2-3     a communication in a proceeding that began before the effective
 2-4     date of this Act is governed by the law applicable to the
 2-5     admissibility of the communication immediately before the effective
 2-6     date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that
 2-7     purpose.
 2-8           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-9     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-10     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-11     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-12     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-13                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
2-14     Amends H.B. 512 of Chapter 18, Subchapter C, Section 18.061 in the
2-15     Civil Practice and Remedies Code by inserting subsection (c) in
2-16     between lines 23 and 24 to read as follows:
2-17           (c)  Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections (a) and (b),
2-18     a communication, including an excited utterance as defined by Rule
2-19     803(2) of the Texas Rules of Evidence, which also includes a
2-20     statement or statements concerning negligence or culpable conduct
2-21     pertaining to an accident or event, is admissible to prove
2-22     liability of the communicator.
2-23                                                                   Bosse