By Kuempel                                            H.B. No. 3080
         76R7862 DAK-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to liability of volunteers in certain hunting activities.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Title 4, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
 1-5     amended by adding Chapter 100 to read as follows:
 1-6     CHAPTER 100.  LIABILITY OF VOLUNTEERS IN CERTAIN HUNTING ACTIVITIES
 1-7           Sec. 100.001.  DEFINITIONS.  In this chapter:
 1-8                 (1)  "Good faith" means the honest, conscientious
 1-9     pursuit of an activity.
1-10                 (2)  "Volunteer" means a person rendering services who
1-11     does not receive compensation in excess of reimbursement for
1-12     expenses incurred.  The term includes a person serving as a
1-13     director, officer, trustee, or direct service volunteer.
1-14           Sec. 100.002.  APPLICABILITY TO YOUTH HUNTS.  This chapter
1-15     applies only to a person who is a volunteer in organizing or
1-16     conducting a hunt for animals carried out by persons younger than
1-17     18 years of age.
1-18           Sec. 100.003.  VOLUNTEER LIABILITY.  (a)  Except as provided
1-19     by Subsection (c), a volunteer who is serving as an officer or
1-20     director is immune from civil liability for any act or omission
1-21     resulting in death, damage, or injury if the volunteer was acting
1-22     in the course and scope of the volunteer's duties or functions.
1-23           (b)  Except as provided by Subsection (c), a volunteer who is
1-24     serving as a direct service volunteer is immune from civil
 2-1     liability for any act or omission resulting in death, damage, or
 2-2     injury if the volunteer was acting in good faith and in the course
 2-3     and scope of the volunteer's duties or functions.
 2-4           (c)  A volunteer is liable to a person for death, damage, or
 2-5     injury to the person or the person's property proximately caused by
 2-6     any act or omission arising from the operation or use of any
 2-7     motor-driven equipment, including an airplane, to the extent:
 2-8                 (1)  insurance coverage is required by Chapter 601,
 2-9     Transportation Code; and
2-10                 (2)  of any existing insurance coverage applicable to
2-11     the act or omission.
2-12           (d)  This section:
2-13                 (1)  applies only to the liability of a volunteer; and
2-14                 (2)  does not apply to the liability of a person
2-15     utilizing or benefiting from the efforts of a volunteer.
2-16           Sec. 100.004.  LIMITATION.  This chapter does not apply to an
2-17     act or omission that is intentional, wilfully or wantonly
2-18     negligent, or done with conscious indifference or reckless
2-19     disregard for the safety of others.
2-20           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
2-21     applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after that
2-22     date.  An action that accrued before the effective date of this Act
2-23     is governed by the law applicable to the action immediately before
2-24     the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect
2-25     for that purpose.
2-26           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
2-27     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-1     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-2     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-3     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.