By Averitt                                            H.B. No. 3276
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the application of the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act
 1-3     to charitable trustees.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Article 2.31, Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act
 1-6     (Article 1396-2.31, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to
 1-7     read as follows:
 1-8           Art. 2.31.  POWER TO SERVE AS TRUSTEE.  A.  A corporation
 1-9     that is described by Section 501(c)(3) or 170(c), Internal Revenue
1-10     Code of 1986, or a corresponding provision of a subsequent federal
1-11     tax law, or a corporation listed by the Internal Revenue Service in
1-12     the Cumulative List of Organizations Described in Section 170(c) of
1-13     the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, I.R.S. Publication 78, may serve
1-14     as the trustee of a trust:
1-15                 (1)  of which the corporation is a beneficiary; or
1-16                 (2)  benefiting another organization described by one
1-17     of those sections of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or a
1-18     corresponding provision of a subsequent federal tax law, or listed
1-19     by the Internal Revenue Service in the Cumulative List of
1-20     Organizations Described in Section 170(c) of the Internal Revenue
1-21     Code of 1986, I.R.S. Publication 78.
1-22           B.  Any corporation (or person or entity assisting such
1-23     corporation) described in this article shall have immunity from
1-24     suit (including both a defense to liability and the right not to
 2-1     bear the cost, burden, and risk of discovery and trial) as to any
 2-2     claim alleging that the corporation's role as trustee of a trust
 2-3     described in this article constitutes engaging in the trust
 2-4     business in a manner requiring a state charter as defined in
 2-5     Section 1.002(a)(9), Texas Trust Company Act (Article 342a-1.002,
 2-6     Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).  An interlocutory appeal may be
 2-7     taken if a court denies or otherwise fails to grant a motion for
 2-8     summary judgment that is based on an assertion of the immunity
 2-9     provided in this subsection.
2-10           SECTION 2.  (a)  Article 2.31, Texas Non-Profit Corporation
2-11     Act (Article 1396-2.31, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), as that
2-12     article exists on the effective date of this Act, applies to any
2-13     trust created before, on, or after the effective date of this Act,
2-14     including any trust that is the subject of litigation or another
2-15     proceeding that is pending before, on, or after the effective date
2-16     of this Act.
2-17           (b)  This section applies without regard to the effective
2-18     date of the legislation enacting Article 2.31, Texas Non-Profit
2-19     Corporation Act (Article 1396-2.31, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes),
2-20     or any other legislation enacted by any legislature that amended
2-21     the provisions of Article 2.31, Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act
2-22     (Article 1396-2.31, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
2-23           SECTION 3.  This Act applies to any trust created before, on,
2-24     or after the effective date of this Act, including any trust that
2-25     is the subject of litigation or another proceeding that is pending
2-26     before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
2-27           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
 3-1     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 3-2     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 3-3     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 3-4     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
 3-5     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
 3-6     passage, and it is so enacted.