By Capelo                                             H.B. No. 2105
         76R6389 BDH-F                           
                                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 district court in which an action is brought under
 1-8     this section may transfer jurisdiction of the action to the Court
 1-9     of Appeals for the Third Court of Appeals District by entering an
1-10     appropriate notice of transfer.  The district court shall enter
1-11     notice of transfer if the district court determines that the
1-12     district court's decision under this section is likely to be
1-13     appealed or that the public interest requires a prompt
1-14     authoritative determination of the validity or applicability of the
1-15     rule in question.  The court of appeals  shall direct a district
1-16     court to conduct any necessary evidentiary hearings in connection
1-17     with the action.
1-18           SECTION 2.  Section 2001.176, Government Code, is amended by
1-19     adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
1-20           (c)  A district court in which an action is brought under
1-21     this section may transfer jurisdiction of the action to the Court
1-22     of Appeals for the Third Court of Appeals District by entering an
1-23     appropriate notice of transfer.  The district court shall enter
1-24     notice of transfer if the district court determines that the
 2-1     district court's decision under this section is likely to be
 2-2     appealed or that the public interest requires a prompt
 2-3     authoritative determination of the validity or applicability of the
 2-4     rule in question.  The court of appeals  shall direct a district
 2-5     court to conduct any necessary evidentiary hearings in connection
 2-6     with the action.
 2-7           SECTION 3.  (a)  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-8           (b)  The change in law made by this Act applies to an action
 2-9     pending in a district court on the effective date and to an action
2-10     filed on or after that date.
2-11           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-12     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-13     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-14     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-15     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.