§ 111.004.Form of Consent or Approval

Consent has a form, and only one form counts.

A resolution adopted by both houses is the exclusive method. A committee vote, a letter from a presiding officer or a budget rider is not consent under this chapter.

Both houses must act. The requirement mirrors how the legislature grants permission to sue the state under Chapter 107.

Consent may travel inside a permission-to-sue resolution. Subsection (b) allows, without requiring, that the consent be expressed in a resolution that grants permission to sue and limits the relief available or sets conditions on the grant.

That option lets the legislature deal with the whole matter at once — permission to bring the claim and the terms on which it may be resolved, in one document.

The word "may" keeps it optional. A standalone resolution consenting to a settlement is available where no permission to sue is involved.

Section 111.005 completes the picture by ruling out the informal route: money appropriated to pay a settlement is not consent to it.

A resolution is not a statute. It does not go to the governor for signature, which makes it a faster instrument than legislation for a session working through a settlement.

Consent can come before or after. Section 111.003 prefers prior consent and allows a settlement expressly conditioned on later approval, and either way the approval takes this form.