§ 30.0035.Personal Service of Process During Legislative Proceeding Prohibited

A 2023 provision with unusually severe consequences for a service rule.

A person may not serve citation or other civil process in person on a member, officer, or employee of the senate or house of representatives during any legislative proceeding.

Three consequences follow, and all are mandatory. The prohibition itself. A court shall quash any service made in violation. And the supreme court shall revoke the certification of a process server who violates the section.

The third is the striking one. Losing certification ends a process server's livelihood, and the section provides no discretion, no graduated sanction, and no exception for a server who did not know the recipient was a legislative employee.

The concern is disruption of legislative business, and the coverage reflects that. It extends beyond members to officers and employees, and the trigger is during any legislative proceeding rather than the whole session.

Only personal service is prohibited. The section reaches service in person, so other authorised methods are unaffected, and a legislator is not immune from suit — only from being handed papers in the chamber.

It sits alongside the legislative continuance, and the two together mark the Legislature's protection of its members' attention during a session.