Bill Text: TX HB556 | 2017-2018 | 85th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the civil liability of certain persons in connection with allowing or forbidding handguns on the premises of a business or apartment complex.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-03-28 - No action taken in committee [HB556 Detail]

Download: Texas-2017-HB556-Introduced.html

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85R1217 LED-D
By: Keough H.B. No. 556

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the civil liability of certain persons in connection
with allowing or forbidding handguns on the premises of a business
or apartment complex.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Title 4, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
amended by adding Chapter 95A to read as follows:
CHAPTER 95A. LIABILITY OF CERTAIN PERSONS IN CONNECTION WITH
ALLOWING OR FORBIDDING HANDGUNS ON CERTAIN PREMISES
Sec. 95A.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
(1) "Apartment complex" means two or more dwellings in
one or more buildings that are owned by the same owner, located on
the same lot or tract, and managed by the same owner, agent, or
management company.
(2) "License holder" means a person licensed to carry
a handgun under Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code.
Sec. 95A.002. LIABILITY OF CERTAIN PERSONS THAT FORBID
HANDGUNS. (a) This section does not apply to an entity required to
display a sign under Section 411.204, Government Code.
(b) A person with control over the premises of a business or
an apartment complex who forbids entry on the premises by a license
holder with a concealed handgun is strictly liable to a license
holder who would otherwise have carried a concealed handgun onto
the premises for damages for personal injury or death resulting
from an occurrence on the premises:
(1) in which the license holder would have been
justified in using deadly force; and
(2) that could have been prevented by the otherwise
lawful use of a handgun by the license holder.
Sec. 95A.003. IMMUNITY OF CERTAIN PERSONS THAT ALLOW
HANDGUNS. A person with control over the premises of a business or
an apartment complex who allows entry on the premises by a license
holder with a handgun is not liable based solely on that permission
for damages arising from the lawful carrying of a handgun on the
premises.
Sec. 95A.004. ORAL OR WRITTEN COMMUNICATION. For purposes
of this chapter:
(1) an oral or written communication that constitutes
notice for purposes of Section 30.06, Penal Code, is sufficient to
constitute forbidding entry on the premises by a license holder
with a concealed handgun; and
(2) the lack of an oral or written communication that
constitutes notice for purposes of Section 30.06 or 30.07, Penal
Code, is sufficient to constitute allowing entry on the premises by
a license holder with a concealed or openly carried handgun, as
applicable.
SECTION 2. (a) Section 95A.002, Civil Practice and
Remedies Code, as added by this Act, applies only to a cause of
action that accrues on or after the effective date of this Act. A
cause of action that accrues before the effective date of this Act
is governed by the law applicable to the cause of action immediately
before that date, and that law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
(b) Section 95A.003, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, as
added by this Act, does not apply to a cause of action that accrued
before the effective date of this Act. A cause of action that
accrued before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law
applicable to the cause of action immediately before that date, and
that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.