By:  Hartnett                                         H.B. No. 1864
       73R4488 JD-D
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the redemption period allowed on property sold for
    1-3  taxes.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 34.21, Tax Code, is amended by amending
    1-6  Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
    1-7        (a)  Except as provided in Subsection (d), the <The> owner of
    1-8  real property sold at a tax sale may redeem the property within two
    1-9  years after the date on which the purchaser's deed is filed for
   1-10  record by paying the purchaser the amount he bid for the property,
   1-11  the amount of the deed recording fee, and the amount paid by the
   1-12  purchaser as taxes, penalties, interest, and costs on the property,
   1-13  plus 25 percent of the aggregate total if the property is redeemed
   1-14  during the first year of the redemption period or 50 percent of the
   1-15  aggregate total if the property is redeemed during the second year
   1-16  of the redemption period.
   1-17        (d)  A municipality may adopt an ordinance to reduce the
   1-18  period for a right of redemption for property located in the
   1-19  municipality that is sold for the payment of ad valorem taxes,
   1-20  referred to in Subsection (a), from two years to one year.  An
   1-21  ordinance adopted under this subsection must require the
   1-22  municipality to establish the following facts to a court of
   1-23  competent jurisdiction before a foreclosure sale:
   1-24              (1)  the ad valorem taxes on the property to be sold
    2-1  have been delinquent for at least two years;
    2-2              (2)  the property is vacant; and
    2-3              (3)  notice of the action is given to the record owner
    2-4  of the property by personal service, certified mail, or
    2-5  publication.
    2-6        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect on the date on which the
    2-7  constitutional amendment proposed by __________J.R. No. ______,
    2-8  73rd Legislature, Regular Session, 1993, takes effect.  If that
    2-9  amendment is not approved by the voters, this Act has no effect.
   2-10        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-11  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-12  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-13  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-14  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.