H.B. No. 2218
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the conduct of certain business or commercial
1-3 transactions.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Subsections (a) and (b), Article 6.10, Title 79,
1-6 Revised Statutes (Article 5069-6.10, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes)
1-7 are amended to read as follows:
1-8 (a) A seller may charge a documentary fee for services
1-9 rendered to, for, or on behalf of a retail buyer in preparing,
1-10 handling, and processing documents relating to, and closing a
1-11 retail installment transaction involving, a motor cycle, a
1-12 motor-driven cycle, moped, <or> all-terrain vehicle, a boat, boat
1-13 motor, boat trailer, or towable recreational vehicle. If the
1-14 documentary fee is charged:
1-15 (1) it must be charged to both cash and credit buyers;
1-16 (2) it may not exceed $50 <25>; and
1-17 (3) it must be disclosed on the retail installment
1-18 contract as a separate itemized charge.
1-19 (b) Preliminary worksheets that are shown to the buyer in
1-20 which a sale price is computed, an order from the buyer, and the
1-21 retail installment contract must include, in reasonable proximity
1-22 to the place in the worksheet, order, or contract where the
1-23 documentary fee is disclosed, the amount of the fee and the
1-24 following notice in bold-faced type:
2-1 "A DOCUMENTARY FEE IS NOT AN OFFICIAL FEE AND IS NOT REQUIRED BY
2-2 LAW, BUT MAY BE CHARGED TO A BUYER FOR THE HANDLING OF DOCUMENTS
2-3 AND THE PERFORMING OF SERVICES RELATED TO THE CLOSING OF A SALE. A
2-4 BUYER MAY AVOID PAYMENT OF THE FEE BY HANDLING THESE DOCUMENTS AND
2-5 PERFORMING THESE SERVICES. A DOCUMENTARY FEE MAY NOT EXCEED $50
2-6 <25>. THIS NOTICE IS REQUIRED BY LAW."
2-7 SECTION 2. The importance of this legislation and the
2-8 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-9 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-10 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-11 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
2-12 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
2-13 passage, and it is so enacted.