Highlights 77th Texas Legislature - Senate

___________________S TATE
FFAIRS/GeneralGeneral
TATE AFFAIRS
77 th Texas Legislature
Provides that the law governing resolution of contract claims against the state found in Chapter 2260,
Government Code, does not apply to:
• a claim for personal injury or wrongful death arising from the breach of a contract;
• a contract executed or awarded on or before August 30, 1999; or
• a contract that does not include dispute resolution provisions.
Prohibits the total amount of money recoverable on a claim for breach of contract from exceeding, after
deducting a certain amount, an amount equal to the sum of:
• the balance due and owing on the contract price; and
• the amount or fair market value of orders or requests for additional work made by a unit of state
government to the extent that the orders or requests for additional work were actually performed.
Provides that the legislature retains the authority to deny or grant a waiver of immunity to suit against a unit
of state government by statute, resolution, or any other means the legislature may determine appropriate.
Provides that the law governing resolution of contract claims against the state found in Chapter 2260,
Government Code does not and may not be interpreted to:
• divest the legislature of the authority to grant permission to sue a unit of state government on the
terms, conditions, and procedures that the legislature may specify in the measure granting the
permission;
• require that the legislature, in granting or denying permission to sue a unit of state government,
comply with that the law governing resolution of contract claims against the state found in Chapter
2260, Government Code; or
• limit in any way the effect of a legislative grant of permission to sue a unit of state government
unless the grant itself provides that the law governing resolution of contract claims against the state
found in Chapter 2260, Government Code may have that effect.
Statutory Revision and Statutory Construction - H.B. 2809
by Representative Wolens
Senate Sponsor: Senator Cain
In Fleming Foods of Texas, Inc. v. Rylander, the Texas Supreme Court held that an omission from the 1981
Tax Code, a nonsubstantive revision, effected a substantive change in the law relating to a person eligible
to apply for a sales tax refund. The court made its holding despite repeated and clear statements in the law
and on the face of the bill that no substantive change was intended. The court rejected the arguments
made on rehearing in an amicus brief joined in by the Texas Legislative Council and numerous individual
legislators and found that a change in a codified statute that was direct, unambiguous, and irreconcilable
with prior law would be given effect as an intended, substantive change in the statute. This bill establishes
a rule of construction to assist future courts in avoiding the result reached in Fleming and establishes a
related rule of construction that any absence of legislative action in regard to the statutes at issue in
Fleming does not constitute legislative acceptance of that holding.
Senate Research Center 280