Bill Text: TX SB779 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Engrossed
Bill Title: Relating to common law public nuisance claims.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2025-04-17 - Referred to Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence [SB779 Detail]
Download: Texas-2025-SB779-Engrossed.html
| By: Middleton | S.B. No. 779 | |
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| relating to common law public nuisance claims. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Title 4, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Chapter 100C to read as follows: | ||
| CHAPTER 100C. CIVIL ACTIONS RELATED TO PUBLIC NUISANCES | ||
| Sec. 100C.001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "public | ||
| nuisance claim" means a request in a civil action brought by a | ||
| private party or a political subdivision of this state to recover | ||
| damages, abatement, or other relief for a public nuisance under the | ||
| common law of this state, whether asserted as a cause of action or | ||
| an injury. | ||
| Sec. 100C.002. LIMITATIONS ON COMMON LAW PUBLIC NUISANCE | ||
| CLAIMS. (a) A public nuisance claim is not cognizable in this | ||
| state if it seeks relief arising from: | ||
| (1) an action or condition that is authorized, | ||
| licensed, approved, or mandated by a statute, ordinance, | ||
| regulation, permit, order, rule, or other similar measure issued, | ||
| adopted, promulgated, or approved by the federal government, a | ||
| federal agency, this state, or an agency or political subdivision | ||
| of this state; | ||
| (2) an action or condition that occurs or exists in a | ||
| context where a statutory cause of action or administrative | ||
| enforcement mechanism already exists to address conduct that is | ||
| injurious to the public; or | ||
| (3) a product or a claim based on the manufacturing, | ||
| distributing, selling, labeling, or marketing of a product, | ||
| regardless of whether the product is defective. | ||
| (b) The aggregation of multiple injuries to individuals or | ||
| of private nuisances does not constitute a public nuisance or give | ||
| rise to a public nuisance claim. | ||
| (c) This section may not be construed to limit a claimant | ||
| from obtaining relief provided by other law. | ||
| Sec. 100C.003. RELATIONSHIP TO COMMON LAW. To the extent of | ||
| a conflict between this chapter and the common law of public | ||
| nuisance, this chapter controls. Otherwise, this chapter | ||
| supplements the common law of public nuisance, both as to the claim | ||
| and defenses. | ||
| SECTION 2. Chapter 100C, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, | ||
| as added by this Act, applies only to an action filed on or after the | ||
| effective date of this Act. | ||
| 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, 2025. | ||
