1-1     By:  Gray, McReynolds (Senate Sponsor - Ellis)         H.B. No. 512
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 16, 1999;
 1-3     April 19, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Economic Development; May 14, 1999, reported favorably by the
 1-5     following vote:  Yeas 4, Nays 0; May 14, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the admissibility in a civil action of certain
 1-9     communications of sympathy.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Chapter 18, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
1-12     amended by adding Subchapter C to read as follows:
1-13                        SUBCHAPTER C.  ADMISSIBILITY
1-14           Sec. 18.061.  COMMUNICATIONS OF SYMPATHY.  (a)  A court in a
1-15     civil action may not admit a communication that:
1-16                 (1)  expresses sympathy or a general sense of
1-17     benevolence relating to the pain, suffering, or death of an
1-18     individual involved in an accident;
1-19                 (2)  is made to the individual or a person related to
1-20     the individual within the second degree by consanguinity or
1-21     affinity, as determined under Subchapter B, Chapter 573, Government
1-22     Code; and
1-23                 (3)  is offered to prove liability of the communicator
1-24     in relation to the individual.
1-25           (b)  In this section, "communication" means:
1-26                 (1)  a statement;
1-27                 (2)  a writing; or
1-28                 (3)  a gesture that conveys a sense of compassion or
1-29     commiseration emanating from humane impulses.
1-30           (c)  Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsections (a) and
1-31     (b), a communication, including an excited utterance as defined by
1-32     Rule 803(2) of the Texas Rules of Evidence, which also includes a
1-33     statement or statements concerning negligence or culpable conduct
1-34     pertaining to an accident or event, is admissible to prove
1-35     liability of the communicator.
1-36           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-37     applies only to the admissibility of a communication in a
1-38     proceeding that begins on or after that date.  The admissibility of
1-39     a communication in a proceeding that began before the effective
1-40     date of this Act is governed by the law applicable to the
1-41     admissibility of the communication immediately before the effective
1-42     date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that
1-43     purpose.
1-44           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-45     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-46     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-47     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-48     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
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