H.B. No. 1602
 
 
 
 
AN ACT
  relating to venue in civil actions under the Jones Act.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 15.018, Civil Practice and Remedies
  Code, is amended to read as follows:
         Sec. 15.018.  FEDERAL EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY ACT [AND JONES
  ACT]. (a)  This section only applies to suits brought under the
  federal Employers' Liability Act (45 U.S.C. Section 51 et seq.) [or
  the Jones Act (46 U.S.C. Section 688)].
         (b)  All suits brought under the federal Employers'
  Liability Act [or the Jones Act] shall be brought:
               (1)  in the county in which all or a substantial part of
  the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred;
               (2)  in the county where the defendant's principal
  office in this state is located; or
               (3)  in the county where the plaintiff resided at the
  time the cause of action accrued.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter B, Chapter 15, Civil Practice and
  Remedies Code, is amended by adding Section 15.0181 to read as
  follows:
         Sec. 15.0181.  JONES ACT. (a)  In this section:
               (1)  "Coastal county" means:
                     (A)  a county in a coastal area, as defined by
  Section 33.004, Natural Resources Code; or
                     (B)  a county having a United States Customs port
  through which waterborne freight is transported.
               (2)  "Coastal erosion" means the loss of land, marshes,
  wetlands, beaches, or other coastal features because of the actions
  of wind, waves, tides, storm surges, subsidence, or other forces.
               (3)  "Erosion response project" means an action
  intended to address or mitigate coastal erosion, including beach
  nourishment, sediment management, beneficial use of dredged
  material, creation or enhancement of a dune, wetland, or marsh, and
  construction of a breakwater, bulkhead, groin, jetty, or other
  structure.
               (4)  "Gulf Coast state" means Louisiana, Mississippi,
  Alabama, or Florida.
               (5)  "Inland waters" means the navigable waters
  shoreward of the navigational demarcation lines dividing the high
  seas from harbors, rivers, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, and
  other inland waters of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama,
  Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, or Indiana or of
  Florida along the Gulf of Mexico shoreline of Florida from the
  Florida-Alabama border down to and including the shoreline of Key
  West, Florida.  The term does not include the Great Lakes.
         (b)  This section applies only to suits brought under the
  Jones Act (46 U.S.C. Section 688).
         (c)  Except as provided by this section, a suit brought under
  the Jones Act shall be brought:
               (1)  in the county where the defendant's principal
  office in this state is located;
               (2)  in the county in which all or a substantial part of
  the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred; or
               (3)  in the county where the plaintiff resided at the
  time the cause of action accrued.
         (d)  If all or a substantial part of the events or omissions
  giving rise to the claim occurred on the inland waters of this
  state, ashore in this state, or during the course of an erosion
  response project in this state, the suit shall be brought:
               (1)  in the county in which all or a substantial part of
  the events giving rise to the claim occurred; or
               (2)  in the county where the defendant's principal
  office in this state is located.
         (e)  If all or a substantial part of the events or omissions
  giving rise to the claim occurred on inland waters outside this
  state, ashore in a Gulf Coast state, or during the course of an
  erosion response project in a Gulf Coast state, the suit shall be
  brought:
               (1)  in the county where the defendant's principal
  office in this state is located if the defendant's principal office
  in this state is located in a coastal county;
               (2)  in Harris County unless the plaintiff resided in
  Galveston County at the time the cause of action accrued;
               (3)  in Galveston County unless the plaintiff resided
  in Harris County at the time the cause of action accrued; or
               (4)  if the defendant does not have a principal office
  in this state located in a coastal county, in the county where the
  plaintiff resided at the time the cause of action accrued.
         SECTION 3.  The change in law made by this Act applies only
  to an action commenced on or after the effective date of this Act.
  An action commenced before the effective date of this Act is
  governed by the law in effect immediately before the effective date
  of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
         SECTION 4.  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, 2007.
 
 
  ______________________________ ______________________________
     President of the Senate Speaker of the House     
 
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1602 was passed by the House on April
  26, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 142, Nays 0, 1 present, not
  voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
  No. 1602 on May 21, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 145, Nays 0,
  1 present, not voting.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House   
 
         I certify that H.B. No. 1602 was passed by the Senate, with
  amendments, on May 17, 2007, by the following vote:  Yeas 30, Nays
  0.
 
  ______________________________
  Secretary of the Senate   
  APPROVED: __________________
                  Date       
   
           __________________
                Governor