Opinion ID: 1383975
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Waiver by The Texas Water Code

Text: IT-Davy contends that Water Code sections 5.351 and 5.352 expressly waive the TNRCC's sovereign immunity from suit. As previously discussed, these sections allow a person affected by a [TNRCC] ruling, order, decision, or other actor by the TNRCC's or its executive director's inactionto seek judicial review of such action or inaction in district court. Tex. Water Code §§ 5.351, 5.352. The TNRCC responds that Water Code sections 5.351 and 5.352 give trial courts only limited power, which is to review administrative actions of a regulatory nature. Thus, the TNRCC argues that these sections do not give trial courts original jurisdiction to decide breach-of-contract claims and, therefore, they do not waive the State's immunity from suit. See State v. Operating Contractors, 985 S.W.2d 646, 656 n. 14 (Tex.App.-Austin 1999, pet. denied). We agree. No court has defined the precise scope of a trial court's jurisdiction under sections 5.351 and 5.352. However, one court of appeals has construed analogous language in the Health and Safety Code as granting only a limited right to review certain administrative actions. See Operating Contractors, 985 S.W.2d at 656 n. 14. Specifically, the court of appeals concluded that section 382.032 of the Health and Safety Code authorizes judicial review of rulings of a regulatory nature, not of a contractual nature. Operating Contractors, 985 S.W.2d at 656 n. 14. The Code Construction Act provides that a statute shall not be construed as a waiver of sovereign immunity unless the waiver is effected by clear and unambiguous language. Tex. Gov't Code § 311.034. And, the Legislature knows how to clearly and unambiguously waive sovereign immunity from suit. For instance, the Texas Tort Claims Act provides that [s]overeign immunity to suit is waived and abolished to the extent of liability created by this chapter. Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem.Code § 101.025(a). But this language is readily distinguishable from language that allows an affected party to seek judicial review of an administrative action. See, e.g., Operating Contractors, 985 S.W.2d at 656 n. 14. Here, neither section 5.351 nor 5.352 clearly and unambiguously waives the TNRCC's sovereign immunity from suit for breach-of-contract claims. Rather, their plain texts expressly provide only for judicial review of administrative action or inaction. See Tex. Water Code §§ 5.351, 5.352; see also Continental Cas. Ins. Co. v. Functional Restoration Assocs., 19 S.W.3d 393, 398 (Tex.2000). Moreover, these provisions appear in the Water Code subchapter entitled Judicial Review, which defines the procedures and remedies available to obtain judicial review of certain TNRCC actions. See Tex. Water Code §§ 5.351-.357. Thus, we conclude that Water Code sections 5.351 and 5.352 do not waive the TNRCC's sovereign immunity from suit for breach-of-contract claims. Moreover, because IT-Davy does not seek judicial review of any TNRCC regulatory action, we reject IT-Davy's argument that the Water Code waives sovereign immunity from suit here.