By Eiland                                             H.B. No. 2581
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the appeal of certain orders, judgments, and decrees.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 51.014, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,
 1-5     is amended by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (c) to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           (b)  An interlocutory appeal under Subsection (a), other than
 1-8     an appeal under Subsection (a)(4), shall have the effect of staying
 1-9     the  commencement of a trial in the trial court pending resolution
1-10     of the appeal.
1-11           (c)  A denial of a motion for summary judgment, special
1-12     appearance, or plea to the jurisdiction described by Subsections
1-13     (a)(5)-(8) is not subject to the automatic stay of the commencement
1-14     of trial under Subsection (b) unless the motion, special
1-15     appearance, or plea to the jurisdiction is filed and set for
1-16     submission or hearing before the trial court not later than the
1-17     later of:
1-18                 (1)  a date set by the trial court in a scheduling
1-19     order entered under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure; or
1-20                 (2)  the 150th day after the date the defendant files:
1-21                       (A)  the original answer; or
1-22                       (B)  the first other responsive pleading to the
1-23     plaintiff's petition.
1-24           SECTION 2.  Section 171.098, Civil Practice and Remedies
 2-1     Code, is repealed.
 2-2           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-3           SECTION 4.  This Act applies only to a suit that is commenced
 2-4     on or after the effective date of this Act.  A suit that is
 2-5     commenced before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
 2-6     law applicable to the suit immediately before the effective date of
 2-7     this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 2-8           SECTION 5.  The repeal by this Act of Section 171.098, Civil
 2-9     Practice and Remedies Code, applies only to an order issued or
2-10     judgment entered by a court on or after the effective date of this
2-11     Act.  An order issued or judgment entered before the effective date
2-12     of this Act is governed by the law as it existed immediately before
2-13     the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect
2-14     for that purpose.
2-15           SECTION 6.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-16     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-17     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-18     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-19     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.