1-1     By:  Wolens (Senate Sponsor - Cain)                   H.B. No. 2809
 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House May 3, 2001;
 1-3     May 4, 2001, read first time and referred to Committee on
 1-4     Administration; May 11, 2001, reported favorably by the following
 1-5     vote:  Yeas 3, Nays 0; May 11, 2001, sent to printer.)
 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-7                                   AN ACT
 1-8     relating to statutory revision and statutory construction.
 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-10           SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Chapter 311, Government Code, is
1-11     amended by adding Section 311.033 to read as follows:
1-12           Sec. 311.033.  EFFECT OF NONSUBSTANTIVE REVISION.  The
1-13     codification of a statute under the continuing statutory revision
1-14     program provided for by Section 323.007  in an act stating that no
1-15     substantive change in law is intended does not affect the meaning
1-16     or effect of the statute.  A court  or other entity interpreting
1-17     and applying the codified statute shall give the codified statute
1-18     the same effect and meaning that was or would have been given the
1-19     statute before its codification, notwithstanding the repeal of the
1-20     prior statute and regardless of an omission or change that the
1-21     court or other entity would otherwise find to be direct,
1-22     unambiguous, and irreconcilable with prior law.  An omission or
1-23     change for which the court finds no direct evidence of legislative
1-24     intent to change the sense, meaning, or effect of the statute shall
1-25     be considered unintended and shall be treated as if the omission or
1-26     change were a typographical or similar error.
1-27           SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 311, Government Code, is
1-28     amended by adding Section 311.034 to read as follows:
1-29           Sec. 311.034.  WAIVER OF SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY.  A statute shall
1-30     not be construed as a waiver of sovereign immunity unless the
1-31     waiver is effected by clear and unambiguous language.  In a
1-32     statute, the use of "person," as defined by Section 311.005 to
1-33     include governmental entities, does not indicate legislative intent
1-34     to waive sovereign immunity unless the context of the statute
1-35     indicates no other reasonable construction.
1-36           SECTION 3. Chapter 323, Government Code, is amended by adding
1-37     Section 323.0071 to read as follows:
1-38           Sec. 323.0071.  EDITORIAL POWERS FOR STATUTES.  (a)  In this
1-39     section, "section" includes titles, subtitles, chapters,
1-40     subchapters, sections, subsections, subdivisions, paragraphs, and
1-41     other numbered or lettered units of a statute.
1-42           (b)  The executive director of the council shall perform the
1-43     duties of revisor of statutes or designate an employee to perform
1-44     those duties.  The powers provided by this section are authorized
1-45     as part of the statutory revision program for the purposes of:
1-46                 (1)  conforming codifications to other acts of the same
1-47     legislature that amended the laws codified or added new law to
1-48     subject matter codified;
1-49                 (2)  making necessary corrections to enacted
1-50     codifications; and
1-51                 (3)  renumbering or relettering sections that duplicate
1-52     numbers or letters, are mislocated, or that are otherwise
1-53     inconsistent with the organization and arrangement of the codes.
1-54           (c)  In carrying out these powers the revisor may not alter
1-55     the sense, meaning, or effect of a statute.  If the revisor is in
1-56     doubt whether a specific change is authorized by this section, the
1-57     revisor may not make the change but shall incorporate the proposed
1-58     change into legislation.
1-59           (d)  In accordance with this section, the revisor may:
1-60                 (1)  renumber or rearrange sections;
1-61                 (2)  combine sections into other sections;
1-62                 (3)  divide sections into other sections so as to give
1-63     to distinct subject matters a section number or letter;
1-64                 (4)  substitute a reference to the proper section for
 2-1     the terms "this act," "the preceding section," and the like;
 2-2                 (5)  substitute figures for written words and vice
 2-3     versa;
 2-4                 (6)  substitute the date on which the law becomes
 2-5     effective for the words "the effective date of this act," and the
 2-6     like;
 2-7                 (7)  change capitalization for the purpose of
 2-8     uniformity;
 2-9                 (8)  correct manifest clerical, typographical,
2-10     grammatical, or punctuation errors;
2-11                 (9)  correct obviously misspelled words;
2-12                 (10)  change references to agree with renumbered or
2-13     relettered sections or to properly reflect references to other
2-14     statutes; and
2-15                 (11)  conform the provisions of a code to the
2-16     amendment, revision, or reenactment of a codified statute by the
2-17     same legislature that enacted the code, giving effect to the
2-18     requirements of Section 311.031(c).
2-19           (e)  In addition to the actions described by Subsection (d),
2-20     if two or more acts of a legislative session affect the same
2-21     section and the revisor finds that there is no irreconcilable
2-22     conflict between the changes made by each act, the revisor may
2-23     harmonize the acts and incorporate the changes made by each act
2-24     into the text of the section.
2-25           (f)  The revisor shall publish proposed actions under this
2-26     section in a report the form of which is designed to clearly
2-27     identify each proposed action, including words to be added or
2-28     deleted, and the purpose of each proposed action.
2-29           (g)  The revisor shall file notice of the report described by
2-30     Subsection (f) with the secretary of state for publication in the
2-31     Texas Register and shall provide a copy of the notice to each
2-32     member of the legislature.  The notice must contain:
2-33                 (1)  a brief explanation of the report;
2-34                 (2)  the intended effective date of the proposed
2-35     actions;
2-36                 (3)  a description of how interested persons may obtain
2-37     the text of the report; and
2-38                 (4)  a request for  comment on the proposed actions by
2-39     affected governmental agencies and any other interested person.
2-40           (h)  The effective date of actions proposed in the report may
2-41     not be earlier than the 61st day after the date notice is published
2-42     in the Texas Register.
2-43           (i)  The revisor shall give all interested persons a
2-44     reasonable opportunity to comment on the actions proposed in the
2-45     report and shall fully consider all comments.
2-46           (j)  The final actions of the revisor under this section
2-47     shall be effected by order issued by the revisor and filed with the
2-48     secretary of state.  The order takes effect on the date stated in
2-49     the order, which may not be earlier than the 31st day after the
2-50     date the order is filed with the secretary of state.  The secretary
2-51     of state shall publish the order in the Texas Register.
2-52           (k)  The revisor shall communicate actions under this section
2-53     to each publisher of Texas statutes, and  the text of the statutes
2-54     published by the publisher shall reflect the actions of the
2-55     revisor.
2-56           (l)  The saving provisions of Section 311.031 apply to
2-57     actions by the revisor under this section.
2-58           SECTION 4. The legislature finds the decision of the Texas
2-59     Supreme Court in  Fleming Foods of Texas, Inc. v. Rylander, 6 S.W.
2-60     3d 278 (Tex. 1999), to be inconsistent with the clear and
2-61     repeatedly expressed intent of the legislature in the enactment of
2-62     the Tax Code and other nonsubstantive  codes enacted under the
2-63     state's continuing statutory revision program under Section
2-64     323.007, Government Code.  The absence of any legislative action
2-65     subsequent to the holding in Fleming Foods of Texas, Inc. v.
2-66     Rylander shall not be construed as legislative acceptance of the
2-67     holding in that case.
2-68           SECTION 5. Section 323.008, Government Code, is repealed.
2-69           SECTION 6. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a
 3-1     vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
 3-2     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
 3-3     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
 3-4     Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the
 3-5     legislative session.
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