S.B. No. 748
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to authorizing certain local governments to accept
    1-2  ownership of conveyed property in certain circumstances.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Chapter 280, Local Government Code, is amended by
    1-5  adding Section 280.002 to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 280.002.  ACQUISITION OF REAL PROPERTY PERMITTED IN
    1-7  CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (d),
    1-8  a local government may accept ownership of property located in the
    1-9  jurisdiction of the local government if:
   1-10              (1)  the property is properly conveyed as a gift by a
   1-11  grantor who acquired title to the property from a debtor in
   1-12  default;
   1-13              (2)  the grantor sent to the local government by
   1-14  registered mail a notice of the grantor's intent to convey the
   1-15  property to the local government; and
   1-16              (3)  the conveyance instrument grants to the local
   1-17  government unencumbered title to the property.
   1-18        (b)  The notice required by Subsection (a)(2) must be
   1-19  delivered to the county clerk of the county or the municipal clerk
   1-20  or secretary of the municipality in which the property is located.
   1-21  The county clerk or the municipal clerk or secretary shall place
   1-22  the notice of the intended conveyance on the agenda for a meeting
   1-23  of the governing body of the local government within 60 days.  The
   1-24  grantor or the grantor's representative shall appear before the
    2-1  governing body of the local government at the meeting to answer any
    2-2  questions about the property.  The local government shall accept or
    2-3  reject the proposed conveyance within 90 days of the meeting.
    2-4        (c)  A grantor may convey title to property to a local
    2-5  government under Subsection (a) immediately after the governing
    2-6  body of the local government approves the conveyance.
    2-7        (d)  A local government may not accept property conveyed
    2-8  under this section if:
    2-9              (1)  an unabated nuisance exists on the property; or
   2-10              (2)  ownership of the property will subject the local
   2-11  government to liability under the Comprehensive Environmental
   2-12  Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C.
   2-13  Section 9601 et seq.), Chapter 361, Health and Safety Code, or
   2-14  Subchapter I, Chapter 26, Water Code.
   2-15        (e)  A local government that accepts property under this
   2-16  section may retain the property or dispose of the property by any
   2-17  method authorized by law.
   2-18        (f)  In this section, "local government" means a municipality
   2-19  or county.
   2-20        (g)  This section is cumulative of other statutory provisions
   2-21  relating to the same subject.
   2-22        SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-23  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-24  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-25  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-26  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.