By Hilbert                                            H.B. No. 2414
         76R7128 BDH-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to compensation paid by a state agency for outside
 1-3     counsel.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 402.0212, Government Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 402.0212.  PROVISION OF LEGAL SERVICES--OUTSIDE COUNSEL.
 1-8     (a)  Except as authorized by other law, a contract for legal
 1-9     services between an attorney, other than a full-time employee of
1-10     the agency, and a state agency in the executive department, other
1-11     than an agency established by the Texas Constitution, must be
1-12     approved by the attorney general to be valid.  The attorney general
1-13     shall provide legal services for a state agency for which the
1-14     attorney general determines those legal services are appropriate
1-15     and for which the attorney general denies approval for a contract
1-16     for those services under this subsection.
1-17           (b)  The compensation to be paid by a state agency in the
1-18     executive department to an attorney under a legal services contract
1-19     must be stated on the face of the contract.  Unless an alternative
1-20     fee arrangement is approved in advance by the legislature, the
1-21     compensation under the contract must be stated as an hourly fee for
1-22     services plus reasonable expenses, and total hours and expenses
1-23     must be subject to review and approval by the state agency and by
1-24     the attorney general.  The legislature may grant approval to an
 2-1     alternative fee arrangement  by law or by concurrent resolution.
 2-2           (c)  For purposes of this section, the functions of a hearing
 2-3     examiner, administrative law judge, or other quasi-judicial officer
 2-4     are not considered legal services.
 2-5           (d) [(c)]  This section shall not apply to the Texas Turnpike
 2-6     Authority.
 2-7           SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
 2-8     to legal services performed for a state agency on or after the
 2-9     effective date of this Act.
2-10           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-11     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-12     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-13     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-14     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-15     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-16     passage, and it is so enacted.