HBA-KMH H.B. 2402 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2402
By: Salinas
Criminal Jurisprudence
4/19/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

In 1997, fire departments reported a total of 82,626 fires at a cost of
more than $381,700,000 to communities in Texas.  According to the Texas
State Fire Marshall's Office, over 42,000 fires were suspected to have been
set deliberately or maliciously.  Cases of arson resulted in 77 deaths and
approximately 600 injuries in Texas.  In addition, fires resulting from
arson cost Texans more than $163,000,000 in lost or damaged property. 

H.B. 2402 authorizes public fire suppression entities to recover the cost
of responding to fires set intentionally or that were the result of arson. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Subtitle C, Title 9, Health and Safety Code, by adding
Chapter 796, as follows: 

CHAPTER 796.  FIRE PROTECTION COSTS

Sec.  796.001.  ACTIONS TO RECOVER COSTS OF FIRE PROTECTION.  (a)
Authorizes a county, state agency, or other public fire suppression entity
to recover from a person the reasonable expense incurred by the fire
suppression entity in furnishing fire protection to control or extinguish a
fire set intentionally or that were the result of arson. 

(b) Authorizes a court to impose reparations to the public fire suppression
entity which responded to an act described under this section on a
defendant if proven in a criminal trial that the defendant caused the
response.  Provides for enforcement of such a judgment. 

(c) Provides that such a judgment is a debt of the person to the public
fire suppression entity and authorizes the public fire suppression entity
to collect the debt in the same manner as an express or implied contractual
obligation. 

Sec.  796.002.  AMOUNT AND LIMIT OF LIABILITY.  Prohibits a judgment under
this chapter from exceeding $5,000 for a particular incident and must be a
reasonable expense of a response.  Provides that for the purposes of this
chapter a reasonable expense for a response includes consequential damages
including wages of the fire suppression personnel who participated in the
response. 

Sec.  796.003.  STATEMENT OF EXPENSE.  Provides that a statement of the
expense of a public fire suppression entity must contain an itemized
accounting of the components of the total charge. 

Sec.  796.004.  JURISDICTION AND VENUE.  Provides that jurisdiction and
venue for an  action under this chapter is in the district court, county
court at law, or justice court of the area where the fire occurred. 

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.
                       Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 3.  Emergency clause.