By: Thompson (Senate Sponsor - Hegar) H.B. No. 2425
         (In the Senate - Received from the House May 12, 2011;
  May 12, 2011, read first time and referred to Committee on State
  Affairs; May 21, 2011, reported favorably by the following vote:  
  Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 21, 2011, sent to printer.)
 
 
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.
 
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