By Averitt                                            H.B. No. 2696
         Line and page numbers may not match official copy.
         Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E.
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the application of the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act
 1-3     and Civil Practice and Remedies Code to charitable trustees.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Article 1396-2.31, Texas Non-Profit Corporation
 1-6     Act is amended by designating the existing language as Section A
 1-7     and by inserting a new Section B to read as follows:
 1-8                       B.  Any corporation (or person or entity
 1-9     assisting such corporation) described in this article shall have
1-10     immunity from suit (including both a defense to liability and the
1-11     right not to bear the cost, burden, and risk of discovery and
1-12     trial) as to any claim alleging that the corporation's role as
1-13     trustee of a trust described in this article constitutes engaging
1-14     in the trust business in a manner requiring a state charter in this
1-15     state.  An interlocutory appeal may be taken if a court denies or
1-16     otherwise fails to grant a motion for summary judgment that is
1-17     based on an assertion of the immunity provided in this subsection.
1-18           SECTION 2.  (a)  Article 1396-2.31, Texas Non-Profit
1-19     Corporation Act, as that section exists on the effective date of
1-20     this Act, applies to any trust created before, on, or after the
1-21     effective date of this Act, including any trust that is the subject
 2-1     of litigation or another proceeding that is pending before, on, or
 2-2     after the effective date of this Act.
 2-3           (b)  This section applies without regard to the effective
 2-4     date of the legislation enacting Article 1396-2.31, Texas
 2-5     Non-Profit Corporation Act or any other legislation enacted by any
 2-6     legislature that amended the provisions of Article 1396-2.31, Texas
 2-7     Non-Profit Corporation Act.
 2-8           SECTION 3.  This Act applies to any trust created before, on,
 2-9     or after the effective date of this Act, including any trust that
2-10     is the subject of litigation or another proceeding that is pending
2-11     before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
2-12           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-17     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-18     passage, and it is so enacted.