1-1  By:  Leedom                                            S.B. No. 549
    1-2        (In the Senate - Filed February 14, 1995; February 15, 1995,
    1-3  read first time and referred to Committee on Jurisprudence;
    1-4  February 28, 1995, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
    1-5  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 7, Nays 0;
    1-6  February 28, 1995, sent to printer.)
    1-7  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 549                   By:  Harris
    1-8                         A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-9                                AN ACT
   1-10  relating to the storage and sale of certain vehicles.
   1-11        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
   1-12        SECTION 1.  Subsection (a), Section 70.006, Property Code, is
   1-13  amended to read as follows:
   1-14        (a)  A holder of a lien under this subchapter on a motor
   1-15  vehicle subject to the Certificate of Title Act, as amended
   1-16  (Article 6687-1, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), or on a motorboat,
   1-17  vessel, or outboard motor for which a certificate of title is
   1-18  required under Subchapter B, Chapter 31, Parks and Wildlife Code,
   1-19  as amended, who retains possession of the vehicle, motorboat,
   1-20  vessel, or outboard motor for 30 days after the day that the
   1-21  charges accrue shall give written notice to the owner and each
   1-22  holder of a lien recorded on the certificate of title.  The notice
   1-23  must be sent by certified mail with return receipt requested and
   1-24  must include the amount of the charges and a request for payment.
   1-25  The holder of a lien under this subchapter is not required as a
   1-26  condition of sale under Subsection (b) to obtain a release of a
   1-27  lien held by a person to whom the holder of the lien under this
   1-28  subchapter has given notice as provided by this section.
   1-29        SECTION 2.  Section 70.007, Property Code, is amended to read
   1-30  as follows:
   1-31        Sec. 70.007.  Unclaimed Excess.  (a)  If a person entitled to
   1-32  excess proceeds under this subchapter is not known or has moved
   1-33  from this state or the county in which the lien accrued, the person
   1-34  holding the excess shall:
   1-35              (1)  pay it to the county treasurer of the county in
   1-36  which the lien accrued; and
   1-37              (2)  send a notice to the last known address of the
   1-38  person stating:
   1-39                    (A)  the date of the sale;
   1-40                    (B)  the amount of proceeds from the sale;
   1-41                    (C)  the amount of the proceeds applied to
   1-42  charges under Section 70.006(b); and
   1-43                    (D)  that excess proceeds have been paid to and
   1-44  may be claimed from the county treasurer of the county specified in
   1-45  the notice.
   1-46        (b)  The treasurer shall issue the person a receipt for the
   1-47  payment.
   1-48        (c) <(b)>  If the person entitled to the excess does not
   1-49  claim it before two years after the day it is paid to the
   1-50  treasurer, the excess becomes a part of the county's general fund.
   1-51        SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1995.
   1-52        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   1-53  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   1-54  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   1-55  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   1-56  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
   1-57                               * * * * *