1-1     By:  Duncan                                            S.B. No. 697
 1-2           (In the Senate - Filed February 25, 1999; March 1, 1999, read
 1-3     first time and referred to Committee on Economic Development;
 1-4     April 22, 1999, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 5,
 1-5     Nays 0; April 22, 1999, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to credits for settlements in certain civil actions.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1.  Subsection (b), Section 33.012, Civil Practice
1-11     and Remedies Code, is amended to read as follows:
1-12           (b)  If the claimant has settled with one or more persons,
1-13     the court shall further reduce the amount of damages to be
1-14     recovered by the claimant with respect to a cause of action by a
1-15     credit equal to one of the following, as elected in accordance with
1-16     Section 33.014:
1-17                 (1)  the sum of the dollar amounts of all settlements;
1-18     or
1-19                 (2)  a dollar amount that is determined by:
1-20                       (A)  computing [equal to] the sum of the
1-21     percentages of responsibility of all settling persons; and
1-22                       (B)  multiplying the amount [following
1-23     percentages] of damages found by the trier of fact by the
1-24     percentage computed under Paragraph (A)[:]
1-25                       [(A)  5 percent of those damages up to $200,000;]
1-26                       [(B)  10 percent of those damages from $200,001
1-27     to $400,000;]
1-28                       [(C)  15 percent of those damages from $400,001
1-29     to $500,000; and]
1-30                       [(D)  20 percent of those damages greater than
1-31     $500,000].
1-32           SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to a suit that is commenced
1-33     on or after the effective date of this Act.  A suit that is
1-34     commenced before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
1-35     law applicable to the suit immediately before the effective date of
1-36     this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
1-37           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-38           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-39     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-40     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-41     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-42     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-43                                  * * * * *