H.B. No. 1297




AN ACT

relating to limits on indemnification of state employees and 
officials.     
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:                        
	SECTION 1.  Section 104.003, Civil Practice and Remedies 
Code, is amended by amending Subsections (a) and (c) and adding 
Subsection (d) to read as follows:
	(a)  Except as provided by Subsection (c) or a specific 
appropriation, state liability for indemnification under this 
chapter may not exceed:
		(1)  $100,000 to a single person indemnified and, if 
more than one person is indemnified, $300,000 for a single 
occurrence in the case of personal injury, death, or deprivation of 
a right, privilege, or immunity; and
		(2)  $10,000 for each [a] single occurrence of damage 
to property.
	(c)  The limits on state liability provided by Subsection (a) 
do not apply if[:
		[(1)]  the state liability is based on Section 
104.002(b)[; or
		[(2)  the person for whose acts the state is liable 
under this chapter is a member of the Texas Board of Criminal 
Justice].
	(d)  For the purposes of this section, a claim arises out of a 
single occurrence, if the claim arises from a common nucleus of 
operative facts, regardless of the number of claimants or the 
number of separate acts or omissions.
	SECTION 2.  The change in law made by this Act applies only 
to indemnification in connection with a cause of action that 
accrues on or after the effective date of this Act.  Indemnification 
in connection with a cause of action that accrues before the 
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect 
immediately before that date, and that law is continued in effect 
for that purpose.
	SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives 
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as 
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this 
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this 
Act takes effect September 1, 2003.




______________________________              ______________________________
 
   President of the Senate                               Speaker of the House      

	I certify that H.B. No. 1297 was passed by the House on April 
30, 2003, by the following vote:  Yeas 138, Nays 0, 2 present, not 
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B. 
No. 1297 on May 30, 2003, by the following vote:  Yeas 143, Nays 0, 
2 present, not voting.

                                                  ______________________________
                                                     Chief Clerk of the House   

	
I certify that H.B. No. 1297 was passed by the Senate, with 
amendments, on May 28, 2003, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 
0.

                                                  ______________________________
                                                      Secretary of the Senate   



APPROVED: __________________                                                
 
                Date                                                         




 
         __________________                                              
 
              Governor