73R1648 RWS-D By Chisum H.B. No. 647 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the sale of real property by municipalities. 1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-4 SECTION 1. Chapter 253, Local Government Code, is amended by 1-5 adding Section 253.007 to read as follows: 1-6 Sec. 253.007. SALE OF REAL PROPERTY BY PUBLIC AUCTION. 1-7 (a) The governing body of a municipality may sell real property 1-8 owned by the municipality by public auction or by sealed bid under 1-9 Section 272.001. 1-10 (b) To sell real property by public auction, the governing 1-11 body of a municipality shall publish notice of the auction before 1-12 the 20th day before the date the auction is held. The notice for 1-13 sale of the real property must be published once a week for three 1-14 consecutive weeks before the date the auction is held in a 1-15 newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the 1-16 municipality is located and, if the real property is located in 1-17 another county, in a newspaper of general circulation in the county 1-18 in which the real property is located. The notice must include a 1-19 description of the real property, including its location, and the 1-20 date, time, and location at which the auction is to be held. 1-21 SECTION 2. Section 272.001(a), Local Government Code, is 1-22 amended to read as follows: 1-23 (a) Except for the types of land and interests covered by 1-24 Subsection (b) or (g) and except as provided by Section 253.007, 2-1 before land owned by a political subdivision of the state may be 2-2 sold or exchanged for other land, notice to the general public of 2-3 the offer of the land for sale or exchange must be published in a 2-4 newspaper of general circulation in either the county in which the 2-5 land is located or, if there is no such newspaper, in an adjoining 2-6 county. The notice must include a description of the land, 2-7 including its location, and the procedure by which sealed bids to 2-8 purchase the land or offers to exchange the land may be submitted. 2-9 The notice must be published on two separate dates and the sale or 2-10 exchange may not be made until after the 14th day after the date of 2-11 the second publication. 2-12 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 2-13 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-14 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-15 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-16 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-17 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-18 passage, and it is so enacted.