Bill Text: TX HB2139 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Comm Sub


Bill Title: Relating to statutory construction.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2023-05-04 - Postponed 1/14/25 10:00 AM [HB2139 Detail]

Download: Texas-2023-HB2139-Comm_Sub.html
  88R19816 MAW-F
 
  By: Burrows, Cain H.B. No. 2139
 
  Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2139:
 
  By:  Slawson C.S.H.B. No. 2139
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to statutory construction.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 311.016(2) and (3), Government Code,
  are amended to read as follows:
               (2)  "Shall" imposes a duty. The use of "shall" does not
  indicate that an action is discretionary.
               (3)  "Must" imposes a requirement and either creates a
  duty or creates or recognizes a condition precedent.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter C, Chapter 311, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Sections 311.0211 and 311.0212 to read as
  follows:
         Sec. 311.0211.  INTENTIONALISM PROHIBITED. When
  interpreting a statute, a court:
               (1)  may not inquire into what members of the
  legislature intended to accomplish by enacting the statute; and
               (2)  shall enforce the statutory text as written and in
  accordance with the meaning that the words of the statute would have
  to an ordinary speaker of the English language.
         Sec. 311.0212.  USE OF LEGISLATURE HISTORY PROHIBITED. When
  interpreting a statute, a court may not consider, consult, cite,
  rely on, or give any weight to:
               (1)  any statement from an individual legislator,
  including a statement by the author or sponsor of the bill that
  enacted the statute or a statement made during a committee hearing
  or debate of the bill on the floor of a house of the legislature;
               (2)  a committee report; or
               (3)  a statement of a presiding officer or the governor
  made on the signing of the bill.
         SECTION 3.  Section 311.025(c), Government Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (c)  In determining whether amendments are irreconcilable,
  text that is reenacted because of the requirement of Article III,
  Section 36, of the Texas Constitution is not considered to be
  irreconcilable with additions or omissions in the same text made by
  another amendment. Unless clearly indicated to the contrary, an
  amendment that reenacts text in compliance with that constitutional
  requirement does not mean [indicate legislative intent] that the
  reenacted text prevails [prevail] over changes in the same text
  made by another amendment, regardless of the relative dates of
  enactment.
         SECTION 4.  Section 311.026(b), Government Code, is amended
  to read as follows:
         (b)  If the conflict between the general provision and the
  special or local provision is irreconcilable, the special or local
  provision prevails as an exception to the general provision, unless
  the general provision is the later enactment and clearly and
  unambiguously supersedes the special or local provision [the
  manifest intent is that the general provision prevail].
         SECTION 5.  Section 311.028, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 311.028.  UNIFORM CONSTRUCTION OF UNIFORM ACTS. A
  uniform act included in a code shall be construed, when possible,
  [to effect its general purpose] to make uniform the law of those
  states that enact it.
         SECTION 6.  Subchapter C, Chapter 311, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Section 311.0311 to read as follows:
         Sec. 311.0311.  SEVERABILITY AND SAVING CONSTRUCTIONS. (a)
  Unless a statute contains a provision expressly providing for
  nonseverability, every provision, section, subsection, sentence,
  clause, phrase, and word of the statute, including every discrete
  application of the provision, section, subsection, sentence,
  clause, phrase, or word to any person, group of persons, or
  circumstance, is severable.
         (b)  If any application of any statutory provision, section,
  subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word to any person, group
  of persons, or circumstance is determined by a court to be invalid,
  preempted, or unconstitutional, regardless of the reason, all
  remaining applications of that statutory provision, section,
  subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word to any other person,
  group of persons, or circumstance shall be severed and preserved
  and remain in effect.
         (c)  It is the intent of the legislature that every valid,
  non-preempted, and constitutional application of its statutory
  enactments be allowed to stand alone and remain enforceable.
         (d)  A court may not decline to enforce the severability
  requirements of this section on the grounds that the severance
  would rewrite the statute or involve the court in legislative or
  lawmaking activity. A court that declines to enforce, or that
  enjoins a state official from enforcing, wholly or partly, a
  statute is not considered to be rewriting a statute or engaging in
  legislative or lawmaking activity because the statute continues to
  contain the same words as before the court's decision. A judicial
  injunction or declaration of unconstitutionality:
               (1)  is only an edict prohibiting enforcement of the
  disputed statute against the parties to that lawsuit and may
  subsequently be vacated by a higher court based on a different
  understanding of the law;
               (2)  is not a formal amendment of the language in a
  statute; and
               (3)  does not rewrite the statute any more than a
  decision by the executive not to enforce a duly enacted statute in a
  limited and defined set of circumstances.
         (e)  If a court, in violation of this section, declares or
  finds any statutory provision, section, subsection, sentence,
  clause, phrase, or word to be facially or totally invalid,
  preempted, or unconstitutional, when there are discrete
  applications of that statutory provision, section, subsection,
  sentence, clause, phrase, or word that could be enforced against a
  person, group of persons, or circumstance without violating federal
  law or the federal or state constitutions, then that statutory
  provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word
  shall be interpreted, as a matter of state law, as if the
  legislature had explicitly limited its application to the person,
  group of persons, or circumstance for which its application will
  not violate federal law or the federal or state constitutions, and
  every court shall adopt and apply this saving construction until
  the court ruling declaring the statutory provision, section,
  subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word facially or totally
  invalid, preempted, or unconstitutional is vacated or overturned.
         SECTION 7.  Section 311.034, Government Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 311.034.  WAIVER OF SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY; JURISDICTIONAL
  REQUIREMENTS. In order to preserve the legislature's interest in
  managing state fiscal matters through the appropriations process, a
  statute shall not be construed as a waiver of sovereign immunity
  unless the waiver is effected by clear and unambiguous language. In
  a statute, the use of "person," as defined by Section 311.005 to
  include governmental entities, does not [indicate legislative
  intent to] waive sovereign immunity unless the context of the
  statute indicates no other reasonable construction. Statutory
  prerequisites to a suit, including the provision of notice, are
  jurisdictional requirements in all suits against a governmental
  entity.
         SECTION 8.  Subchapter C, Chapter 311, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Section 311.037 to read as follows:
         Sec. 311.037.  GRAMMATICAL OR SCRIVENER'S ERROR. A
  grammatical or scrivener's error does not vitiate a law. A court
  construing a statute that contains a grammatical or scrivener's
  error that would be apparent to an ordinary reader of the English
  language may interpret the statute consistent with the
  understanding of the statute by an ordinary reader of the English
  language.
         SECTION 9.  Subchapter A, Chapter 312, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Sections 312.0051, 312.0052, 312.0081, and
  312.0082 to read as follows:
         Sec. 312.0051.  INTENTIONALISM PROHIBITED. When
  interpreting a statute, a court:
               (1)  may not inquire into what members of the
  legislature intended to accomplish by enacting the statute; and
               (2)  shall enforce the statutory text as written and in
  accordance with the meaning that the words of the statute would have
  to an ordinary speaker of the English language.
         Sec. 312.0052.  USE OF LEGISLATURE HISTORY PROHIBITED. When
  interpreting a statute, a court may not consider, consult, cite,
  rely on, or give any weight to:
               (1)  any statement from an individual legislator,
  including a statement by the author or sponsor of the bill that
  enacted the statute or a statement made during a committee hearing
  or debate of the bill on the floor of a house of the legislature;
               (2)  a committee report; or
               (3)  a statement of a presiding officer or the governor
  made on the signing of the bill.
         Sec. 312.0081.  GRAMMATICAL OR SCRIVENER'S ERROR. A
  grammatical or scrivener's error does not vitiate a law. A court
  construing a statute that contains a grammatical or scrivener's
  error that would be apparent to an ordinary reader of the English
  language may interpret the statute consistent with the
  understanding of the statute by an ordinary reader of the English
  language.
         Sec. 312.0082.  SEVERABILITY AND SAVING CONSTRUCTIONS. (a)
  Unless a statute contains a provision expressly providing for
  nonseverability, every provision, section, subsection, sentence,
  clause, phrase, and word of the statute, including every discrete
  application of the provision, section, subsection, sentence,
  clause, phrase, or word to any person, group of persons, or
  circumstance, is severable.
         (b)  If any application of any statutory provision, section,
  subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word to any person, group
  of persons, or circumstance is determined by a court to be invalid,
  preempted, or unconstitutional, regardless of the reason, all
  remaining applications of that statutory provision, section,
  subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word to any other person,
  group of persons, or circumstance shall be severed and preserved
  and remain in effect.
         (c)  It is the intent of the legislature that every valid,
  non-preempted, and constitutional application of its statutory
  enactments be allowed to stand alone and remain enforceable.
         (d)  A court may not decline to enforce the severability
  requirements of this section on the grounds that the severance
  would rewrite the statute or involve the court in legislative or
  lawmaking activity. A court that declines to enforce, or that
  enjoins a state official from enforcing, wholly or partly, a
  statute is not considered to be rewriting a statute or engaging in
  legislative or lawmaking activity because the statute continues to
  contain the same words as before the court's decision. A judicial
  injunction or declaration of unconstitutionality:
               (1)  is only an edict prohibiting enforcement of the
  disputed statute against the parties to that lawsuit and may
  subsequently be vacated by a higher court based on a different
  understanding of the law;
               (2)  is not a formal amendment of the language in a
  statute; and
               (3)  does not rewrite the statute any more than a
  decision by the executive not to enforce a duly enacted statute in a
  limited and defined set of circumstances.
         (e)  If a court, in violation of this section, declares or
  finds any statutory provision, section, subsection, sentence,
  clause, phrase, or word to be facially or totally invalid,
  preempted, or unconstitutional, when there are discrete
  applications of that statutory provision, section, subsection,
  sentence, clause, phrase, or word that could be enforced against a
  person, group of persons, or circumstance without violating federal
  law or the federal or state constitutions, then that statutory
  provision, section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word
  shall be interpreted, as a matter of state law, as if the
  legislature had explicitly limited its application to the person,
  group of persons, or circumstance for which its application will
  not violate federal law or the federal or state constitutions, and
  every court shall adopt and apply this saving construction until
  the court ruling declaring the statutory provision, section,
  subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word facially or totally
  invalid, preempted, or unconstitutional is vacated or overturned.
         SECTION 10.  Sections 311.021, 311.023, 311.032, 312.005,
  312.006, 312.012, and 312.013, Government Code, are repealed.
         SECTION 11.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.
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