1-1  By:  Hochberg (Senate Sponsor - Gallegos)              H.B. No. 387
    1-2        (In the Senate - Received from the House May 11, 1995;
    1-3  May 12, 1995, read first time and referred to Committee on
    1-4  Jurisprudence; May 24, 1995, reported favorably by the following
    1-5  vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 24, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-6                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-7                                AN ACT
    1-8  relating to the jurisdiction of certain justice courts.
    1-9        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-10        SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 27, Government Code, is
   1-11  amended by adding Section 27.034 to read as follows:
   1-12        Sec. 27.034.  DEED RESTRICTION JURISDICTION.  (a)  In a
   1-13  county with a population of 2.8 million or more, a justice court
   1-14  has jurisdiction of suits relating to enforcement of a deed
   1-15  restriction of a residential subdivision that does not concern a
   1-16  structural change to a dwelling.
   1-17        (b)  The petitioner in a dispute concerning a deed
   1-18  restriction shall present as evidence at the first hearing in the
   1-19  dispute:
   1-20              (1)  a certified copy of the deed or other document
   1-21  that establishes the restriction on the property; and
   1-22              (2)  other documents necessary to demonstrate that the
   1-23  restriction applies to the property in dispute.
   1-24        (c)  In a dispute concerning a deed restriction, a justice of
   1-25  the peace may order any alternative method of dispute resolution
   1-26  provided by Title 7, Civil Practice and Remedies Code.
   1-27        (d)  The jurisdiction provided by this section is concurrent
   1-28  with the jurisdiction of the district court.
   1-29        (e)  A justice court has jurisdiction of suits under this
   1-30  section regardless of the amount in controversy.
   1-31        (f)  In a dispute concerning a deed restriction, a justice of
   1-32  the peace may consolidate disputes relating to the same issues and
   1-33  parties.
   1-34        (g)  An appeal under this section is by trial de novo.
   1-35        (h)  In this section, "deed restriction" means one or more
   1-36  restrictive covenants contained or incorporated by reference in a
   1-37  properly recorded deed, map, plat, replat, declaration, or other
   1-38  instrument filed in the real property records, map records, or deed
   1-39  records of the county in which the property is located.
   1-40        (i)  In this section, a "dwelling" does not include an
   1-41  external structure such as a carport, fence, storage building, or
   1-42  unattached garage.
   1-43        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-44  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-45  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-46  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-47  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   1-48  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   1-49  passage, and it is so enacted.
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