With a little more than month before the bill filing deadline (March 10), TCJL is tracking dozens of bills that create new private causes of action, new liability for civil, administrative, and criminal penalties, and new liability for attorney’s fees. This broad overview is intended to give you a general idea of scope of these bills and the entities and individuals they target. More detailed information on each of these bills may be found in our weekly tracking report. As you are aware, TCJL’s Statement of Business Conservative Principles flags bills with new causes or penalties as facially problematic for the business and health care communities and the civil justice system. In general, TCJL opposes using the civil courts to police the conduct of businesses, health care providers, professionals, and individuals. We also generally oppose creating new opportunities for the recovery of costs and attorney’s fees because they target businesses and health care providers and incentivize more litigation against them.
When a new statute establishes a new way to impose liability through the civil justice system, it has the effect of creating a litigation industry around the incentivized actions and exposing businesses and providers to uninsurable risks. Even when those risks can be insured, the litigation machine will quickly target those funds, inevitably causing a crisis of accessibility and affordability of coverage. This pattern has played out far too many times in the past to the detriment of the state’s economy and the availability of the goods and services Texans desire. It has also produced rising costs that are pushed down to employees, consumers, and taxpayers in the form of a “litigation tax.” If the state sees a compelling necessity to regulate conduct in certain areas, we believe that the best approach is to delegate authority to the appropriate regulatory and licensing agencies that have subject matter expertise and can work in a structured way with the regulated community to achieve compliance, not simply mete out punishment on a one-off basis, as litigation and civil enforcement generally do.
The following catalogue divides the bills into categories for ease of reference. We should note that many bills create both a new cause of action and a new penalty, so you will see those listed in more than one category. We may have missed some, so if you review the list and see anything that should be there, please let us know.
New Causes of Action (General) (4): HB 689 (false report to law enforcement agency), HB 1752 (gender dysphoria), HB 1823 (fraudulent liens), HB 1896 (intimate visual material)
New Causes of Action Against Businesses and Employers (51): HB 79 (employers), HB 81 (employers), HB 102 (employers), HB 256/SB 274 (employers, contractors, subcontractors, housing providers), HB 265 (housing providers), HB 292 (sellers of goods and services), HB 404 (employers), HB 450 (oil and gas operators), HB 494 (employers), HB 515 (heavy equipment manufacturers), HB 528 (employers), HB 567 (employers, landlords), HB 601 (property and casualty insurers), HB 645 (financial institutions and businesses), HB 722 (employers), HB 723 (employers), HB 725 (insurers/employers), HB 790 (worker’s compensation carriers), HB 831 (insurers), HB 850 (general business), HB 1032 (employers/insurers), HB 1043 (employers), HB 1234 (property and casualty insurers), HB 1239 (insurers), HB 1268 (landlords), HB 1321 (auto insurers), HB 1337 (health plans), HB 1437 (auto insurers), HB 1450 (sellers of eviction information), HB 1527 (employee benefit plans/health insurers), HB 1656 (auto repair facilities), HB 1702 (worker’s compensation carriers), HB 1706 (property and casualty insurers), HB 1806 (employers), HB 1820 (landlords), HB 1936/SB 417 (electronic device manufacturers), HB 1963 (premises owners), HB 1999 (employers), SB 110/HB 1012 (employers, general business), SB 302 (employers), SB 304 (employers/health benefit plans), SB 305 (employers), SB 308 (employers, insurers), SB 570 (housing providers), SB 622/HB 1754 (health plans), SB 634 (health plans), SB 714 (business premises owners and lessees)
New Civil or Administrative Penalties Against Businesses and Employers (53): HB 41/HB 122/SB 250 (professional liability carriers), HB 79 (employers), HB 81 (employers), HB 138 (employers), HB 248 (mental health and chemical dependency facilities), HB 256/SB 274 (employers, contractors, subcontractors, housing providers), HB 404 (employers), HB 494 (employers), HB 495 (construction contractors), HB 528 (employers), HB 567 (employers), HB 709 (financial institutions), HB 722 (employers), HB 723 (employers), HB 725 (employers), HB 831 (insurers), HB 896 (social media providers), HB 925 (firearm manufacturers, distributors, and sellers), HB 1032 (employers/insurers), HB 1054 (construction contractors), HB 1128 (health plan issuers), HB 1234 (property and casualty insurers), HB 1321 (auto insurers), HB 1337 (health plans), HB 1437 (auto insurers), HB 1527 (employee benefit plans/health insurers), HB 1532 (professional liability carriers), HB 1549 (employers), HB 1568 (swim instruction operators), HB 1686 (health plans), HB 1706 (property and casualty insurers), HB 1806 (employers), HB 1884 (businesses that handle consumer data), HB 1936/SB 417 (electronic device manufacturers), SB 110/HB 1012 (employers, general business), SB 304 (employers/health benefit plans), SB 308 (employers/insurers/professional licensees), SB 570 (housing providers), SB 401 (medical staffing services), SB 476/HB 643, HB 708, HB 1266 (“drag performances”), SB 58 (sales on Internet website), SB 622/HB 1754 (health plans), SB 634 (health plans), SB 704 (biometric identifiers)
New Causes of Action Against Health Care Providers (19): HB 41/HB 122/SB 250 (physicians and providers), HB 42 (medical and mental health professionals), HB 81 (all providers), HB 189 (hospitals), HB 319 (health care facilities), HB 425 (employers), HB 536 (health care providers), HB 888 (phyisicans and practitioners), HB 1023 (clinical labs), HB 1100 (senior living facilities), HB 1679/SB 439 (mental health professionals), SB 297 (health care providers), SB 298 (health care providers), SB 304 (health care providers), SB 305 (vaccine administrators), SB 308 (health care facilities),
New Civil or Administrative Penalties Against Health Care Providers (21): HB 41/HB 122/SB 250 (physicians and providers), HB 42 (medical and mental health professionals), HB 112 (health care facilities), HB 326 (health care facilities), HB 592 (telemedicine or telehealth providers), HB 672 (gender transitioning), HB 776 (gender transitioning), HB 1490 (physicians/practitioners), HB 1532 (gender transitioning), HB 1593 (long-term care facilities), HB 1686 (physicians), HB 1692 (health care facilities), HB 1873 (health care providers), HJR 85 (providers), SB 297 (health care providers), SB 304 (health care providers), SB 305 (vaccine administrators), SB 308 (health care facilities), SB 555 (pharmacy chains),
New Causes of Action Against Governmental Entities and Employees (28): HB 33 (state agencies and employees), HB 119 (governor/local governments), HB 448 (political subdivisions), HB 567 (schools, higher education institutions), HB 791 (state agencies), HB 911 (governor/local governments), HB 1006 (higher education institutions), HB 1032 (schools and higher education institutions), HB 1046 (higher education institutions), HB 1215 (state and political subdivisions), HB 1309 (general), HB 1752 (judges, state and local officials), HB 1753 (state and local governments and officials), HB 1483 (state agencies), HB 1810 (local entities/higher education institutions), HB 1877 (election officials), HB 1881 (counties), HJR 85 (state and local governments), SB 299 (hospital providers), SB 304 (TXDOT, state and local governments), SB 305 (schools, universities, state agencies), SB 307 (state and local governments), SB 308 (educational institutions, TXDOT), SB 393 (school districts), SB 513 (executive director of Texas Medical Board), SB 557 (peace officers), SB 559 (State Bar of Texas), SB 690 (school districts),
New Civil or Administrative Penalties Against Governmental Entities and Employees (3): HB 61 (governmental entities), SB 203 (physicians and practitioners), SB 378 (district and county attorneys)
Attorney’s Fees and Costs (31): HB 61, HB 81, HB 256/SB 274, HB 319, HB 404, HB 450, HB 645, HB 689, HB 709, HB 791, HB 850, HB 925, HB 1006, HB 1450, HB 1752, HB 1753, HB 1844, HB 1936/SB 417, HB 1963, SB 58, SB 110/HB 1012, SB 298, SB 302, SB 305, SB 307, SB 378, SB 393, SB 401
New Criminal Penalties Against Businesses and Employers (4): HB 1031 (manufacturers and distributors of remote vehicle disabling technology), HB 1594 (social media companies), HB 1899 (insider trading), HB 1995 (licensed firearms dealers)
New Criminal Penalties Against Health Care Providers (3): HB 81 (gender transitioning), HB 248 (mental health and chemical dependency facilities), HB 672 (gender transitioning)
New Criminal Penalties Against Governmental Entities and Employees: HB 384
