University of Texas Med. Branch v. York

In University of Texas Med. Branch v. York, 871 S.W.2d 175, 177 & n.3 (Tex. 1994), the court concluded that by removing this provision, the legislature subjected the act to the general principles of statutory construction, allowing courts to take into account (among other things) legislative history and the objectives sought to be obtained by the statute. York, 871 S.W.2d at 177 (citing TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. 311.023 (Vernon 1988)). Unfortunately, the TTCA's legislative history and objectives are precisely what the prior decisions had found to be ambiguous and susceptible of either broad or narrow interpretation. The Court noted that despite its comments, York neither attempted to discern the objectives of the act, nor in fact advocated a narrow construction of the act. York, 871 S.W.2d at 177-78. However, the court concluded that immunity had not been waived in that case. See id. at 179.