By Capelo                                             H.B. No. 2105
         76R10065 BDH-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to judicial review of the validity or applicability of
 1-3     state agency rules and decisions in contested cases.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 2001.038, Government Code, is amended by
 1-6     adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
 1-7           (f)  A Travis County district court in which an action is
 1-8     brought under this section may transfer jurisdiction of the action
 1-9     to the Court of Appeals for the Third Court of Appeals District by
1-10     entering an appropriate notice of transfer.  The district court
1-11     shall enter notice of transfer if the district court determines
1-12     that the public interest requires a prompt authoritative
1-13     determination of the validity or applicability of the rule in
1-14     question and the case would ordinarily be appealed.  The court of
1-15     appeals shall direct a district court to conduct any necessary
1-16     evidentiary hearings in connection with the action.
1-17           SECTION 2.  Section 2001.176, Government Code, is amended by
1-18     adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
1-19           (c)  A Travis County district court in which an action is
1-20     brought under this section may transfer jurisdiction of the action
1-21     to the Court of Appeals for the Third Court of Appeals District by
1-22     entering an appropriate notice of transfer.  The district court
1-23     shall enter notice of transfer if the district court determines
1-24     that the public interest requires a prompt authoritative
 2-1     determination of the validity or applicability of the rule in
 2-2     question and the case would ordinarily be appealed.  The court of
 2-3     appeals shall direct a district court to conduct any necessary
 2-4     evidentiary hearings in connection with the action.
 2-5           SECTION 3.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-6           (b)  The change in law made by this Act applies to an action
 2-7     pending in a district court on the effective date and to an action
 2-8     filed on or after that date.
 2-9           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-10     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-11     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-12     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-13     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.