Legislative response to Entergy decision is dead

It looks like the Texas Supreme Court’s ruling in Entergy Gulf States Inc. v. Summers will be the last word on whether a premises owner who purchases workers’ compensation insurance for all employees on its job site is shielded from injured workers’ suits – at least the last word for the current legislative session. With the session ending June 1, state Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, a partner in Crenshaw, Dupree & Milam, says that H.B. 1657, which changes the Texas Labor Code’s definitions of “general contractor” and “subcontractor,” is dead. “It didn’t have the votes,” Duncan says of the bill.
-- Mary Alice Robbins