By Bailey                                             H.B. No. 3720
         76R8072 AJA-F                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to certain inherently unsafe products.
 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 82.004, Civil Practice and Remedies Code,
 1-5     is amended by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (c) to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  In a products liability action, a manufacturer or seller
 1-8     shall not be liable if:
 1-9                 (1)  the product is inherently unsafe and the product
1-10     is known to be unsafe by the ordinary consumer who consumes the
1-11     product with the ordinary knowledge common to the community;  and
1-12                 (2)  the product is a common consumer product intended
1-13     for personal consumption, such as sugar, castor oil, alcohol,
1-14     [tobacco,] and butter, as identified in Comment i to Section 402A
1-15     of the Restatement (Second) of Torts.
1-16           (c)  Notwithstanding Comment i to Section 402A of the
1-17     Restatement (Second) of Torts, tobacco is not a common consumer
1-18     product intended for personal consumption for purposes of this
1-19     section.
1-20           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, and
1-21     applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after that
1-22     date.  An action that accrues before the effective date of this Act
1-23     is governed by the law applicable to the action immediately before
1-24     the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect
 2-1     for that purpose.
 2-2           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-3     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-4     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-5     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-6     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.