| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to notice to the attorney general of challenges to the |
|
|
constitutionality of Texas statutes. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Subchapter A, Chapter 402, Government Code, is |
|
|
amended by adding Section 402.010 to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 402.010. LEGAL CHALLENGES TO CONSTITUTIONALITY OF |
|
|
STATE STATUTES. (a) In an action in which a party to the litigation |
|
|
files a petition, motion, or other pleading challenging the |
|
|
constitutionality of a statute of this state, the court shall, if |
|
|
the attorney general is not a party to or counsel involved in the |
|
|
litigation, serve notice of the constitutional question and a copy |
|
|
of the petition, motion, or other pleading that raises the |
|
|
challenge on the attorney general either by certified or registered |
|
|
mail or electronically to an e-mail address designated by the |
|
|
attorney general for the purposes of this section. Notice under |
|
|
this section must identify the statute in question, state the basis |
|
|
for the challenge, and specify the petition, motion, or other |
|
|
pleading that raises the challenge. |
|
|
(b) A court may not enter a final judgment holding a statute |
|
|
of this state unconstitutional before the 45th day after the date |
|
|
notice required by Subsection (a) is served on the attorney |
|
|
general. |
|
|
(c) A court's failure to file or serve notice as required by |
|
|
Subsection (a) does not deprive the court of jurisdiction or |
|
|
forfeit an otherwise timely filed claim or defense based on the |
|
|
challenge to the constitutionality of a statute of this state. |
|
|
(d) This section or the state's intervention in litigation |
|
|
in response to notice under this section does not constitute a |
|
|
waiver of sovereign immunity. |
|
|
SECTION 2. Section 402.010, Government Code, as added by |
|
|
this Act, applies only to a petition, motion, or other pleading |
|
|
filed in litigation on or after the effective date of this Act. A |
|
|
pleading filed in litigation before the effective date of this Act |
|
|
is governed by the law applicable to the pleading immediately |
|
|
before the effective date of this Act, 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, 2011. |