By Naishtat, Ehrhardt                                 H.B. No. 2803
       74R4614 MJW-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to prohibiting improper utility disconnections in
    1-3  residential tenancies.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Section 92.008(a), Property Code, is amended to
    1-6  read as follows:
    1-7        (a)  A landlord or a landlord's agent may not interrupt or
    1-8  cause the interruption of utility service paid for directly to the
    1-9  utility company by a tenant or furnished to the tenant as an
   1-10  incident of the tenancy unless:
   1-11              (1)  the interruption results from bona fide repairs,
   1-12  construction, or an emergency; or
   1-13              (2)  the utility service furnished to the tenant is
   1-14  individually metered by the landlord and the landlord complies with
   1-15  applicable law.
   1-16        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   1-17        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-18  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-19  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-20  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-21  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.