By Salinas                                            H.B. No. 2402
         76R6759 JRD-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the ability of a public fire suppression entity to
 1-3     recover the cost of controlling or extinguishing a fire that is
 1-4     intentionally set.
 1-5           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-6           SECTION 1.  Subtitle C, Title 9, Health and Safety Code, is
 1-7     amended by adding Chapter 796 to read as follows:
 1-8                     CHAPTER 796. FIRE PROTECTION COSTS
 1-9           Sec. 796.001.  ACTIONS TO RECOVER COSTS OF FIRE PROTECTION.
1-10     (a) A county, state agency, or other public fire suppression entity
1-11     may recover from a person the reasonable expense incurred by the
1-12     fire suppression entity in furnishing fire protection to control or
1-13     extinguish a fire that:
1-14                 (1)  is intentionally set by the person; or
1-15                 (2)  is the result of conduct for which the person is
1-16     adjudged guilty of an offense under Section 28.02, Penal Code.
1-17           (b)  If a determination is made during a criminal trial that
1-18     a person committed an offense under Section 28.02, Penal Code, and
1-19     as a result of the offense the person caused an incident resulting
1-20     in a fire suppression response by a county, state agency, or other
1-21     public fire suppression entity, the court may include the
1-22     obligation for the liability as part of the judgment.  A judgment
1-23     that includes such an obligation is enforceable as any other
1-24     judgment.
 2-1           (c)  The liability is a debt of the person to the county,
 2-2     state agency, or other public fire suppression entity, and the debt
 2-3     may be collected in the same manner as a public agency collects an
 2-4     express or implied contractual obligation.
 2-5           Sec. 796.002.  AMOUNT AND LIMIT OF LIABILITY.  A person's
 2-6     liability under Section 796.001 for the reasonable expense of a
 2-7     response may not exceed $5,000 for a particular incident.  For the
 2-8     purposes of this chapter, a reasonable expense for a response
 2-9     includes only those costs directly arising from the response to a
2-10     particular incident, including the costs of any salary of the fire
2-11     suppression personnel who participated in the response to the
2-12     incident.
2-13           Sec. 796.003.  STATEMENT OF EXPENSE.  A statement of  the
2-14     expense of a county, state agency, or other public fire suppression
2-15     entity for the provision of fire protection for an incident must
2-16     contain an itemized accounting of the components of the total
2-17     charge.
2-18           Sec. 796.004.  JURISDICTION AND VENUE.  Jurisdiction and
2-19     venue of an action under Section 796.001 are in the district court,
2-20     county court at law, or justice court of the area where the fire
2-21     occurred.
2-22           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-23     applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after that
2-24     date.  An action that accrued before the effective date of this Act
2-25     is governed by the law applicable to the action as it existed
2-26     immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is
2-27     continued in effect for that purpose.
 3-1           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-2     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-3     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-4     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-5     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.