1-1     By:  Averitt (Senate Sponsor - Sibley)                H.B. No. 3276
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 5, 1999;
 1-3     May 6, 1999, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Jurisprudence; May 13, 1999, reported favorably by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 3, Nays 0; May 13, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to the application of the Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act
 1-9     to charitable trustees.
1-10           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-11           SECTION 1.  Article 2.31, Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act
1-12     (Article 1396-2.31, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is amended to
1-13     read as follows:
1-14           Art. 2.31.  POWER TO SERVE AS TRUSTEE.  A.  A corporation
1-15     that is described by Section 501(c)(3) or 170(c), Internal Revenue
1-16     Code of 1986, or a corresponding provision of a subsequent federal
1-17     tax law, or a corporation listed by the Internal Revenue Service in
1-18     the Cumulative List of Organizations Described in Section 170(c) of
1-19     the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, I.R.S. Publication 78, may serve
1-20     as the trustee of a trust:
1-21                 (1)  of which the corporation is a beneficiary; or
1-22                 (2)  benefiting another organization described by one
1-23     of those sections of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or a
1-24     corresponding provision of a subsequent federal tax law, or listed
1-25     by the Internal Revenue Service in the Cumulative List of
1-26     Organizations Described in Section 170(c) of the Internal Revenue
1-27     Code of 1986, I.R.S. Publication 78.
1-28           B.  Any corporation (or person or entity assisting such
1-29     corporation) described in this article shall have immunity from
1-30     suit (including both a defense to liability and the right not to
1-31     bear the cost, burden, and risk of discovery and trial) as to any
1-32     claim alleging that the corporation's role as trustee of a trust
1-33     described in this article constitutes engaging in the trust
1-34     business in a manner requiring a state charter as defined in
1-35     Section 1.002(a)(9), Texas Trust Company Act (Article 342a-1.002,
1-36     Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).  An interlocutory appeal may be
1-37     taken if a court denies or otherwise fails to grant a motion for
1-38     summary judgment that is based on an assertion of the immunity
1-39     provided in this subsection.
1-40           SECTION 2.  (a)  Article 2.31, Texas Non-Profit Corporation
1-41     Act (Article 1396-2.31, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), as that
1-42     article exists on the effective date of this Act, applies to any
1-43     trust created before, on, or after the effective date of this Act,
1-44     including any trust that is the subject of litigation or another
1-45     proceeding that is pending before, on, or after the effective date
1-46     of this Act.
1-47           (b)  This section applies without regard to the effective
1-48     date of the legislation enacting Article 2.31, Texas Non-Profit
1-49     Corporation Act (Article 1396-2.31, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes),
1-50     or any other legislation enacted by any legislature that amended
1-51     the provisions of Article 2.31, Texas Non-Profit Corporation Act
1-52     (Article 1396-2.31, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes).
1-53           SECTION 3.  This Act applies to any trust created before, on,
1-54     or after the effective date of this Act, including any trust that
1-55     is the subject of litigation or another proceeding that is pending
1-56     before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.
1-57           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-58     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-59     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-60     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-61     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
1-62     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
1-63     passage, and it is so enacted.
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