78R606 DAK-D

By:  Wohlgemuth                                                   H.B. No. 643



A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the amount of exemplary damages that a plaintiff may 
obtain against a defendant.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 41.008(c), Civil Practice and Remedies 
Code, is amended to read as follows:
	(c)  Subsection (b) does not apply to a cause of action 
against a defendant from whom a plaintiff seeks recovery of 
exemplary damages based on conduct for which the defendant has been 
convicted of [described as] a felony in the following sections or 
chapters of the Penal Code [if, except for Sections 49.07 and 49.08, 
the conduct was committed knowingly or intentionally]:
		(1)  Section 19.02 (murder);                                                  
		(2)  Section 19.03 (capital murder);                                          
		(3)  Section 20.04 (aggravated kidnapping);                                   
		(4)  Section 22.02 (aggravated assault);                                      
		(5)  Section 22.011 (sexual assault);                                         
		(6)  Section 22.021 (aggravated sexual assault);                              
		(7)  Section 22.04 (injury to a child, elderly 
individual, or disabled individual);
		(8)  Section 32.21 (forgery);                                                 
		(9)  Section 32.43 (commercial bribery);                                      
		(10)  Section 32.45 (misapplication of fiduciary 
property or property of financial institution);
		(11)  Section 32.46 (securing execution of document by 
deception);          
		(12)  Section 32.47 (fraudulent destruction, removal, 
or concealment of writing);
		(13)  Chapter 31 (theft) the punishment level for which 
is a felony of the third degree or higher;
		(14)  Section 49.07 (intoxication assault);  or                               
		(15)  Section 49.08 (intoxication manslaughter).                              
	SECTION 2.  Section 41.008(d), Civil Practice and Remedies 
Code, is repealed.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2003, and 
applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after that 
date.  An action that accrued before the effective date of this Act 
is governed by the law applicable to the action immediately before 
the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect 
for that purpose.