By: Henderson S.B. No. 899 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT 1-1 relating to preservation of property rights; and declaring an 1-2 emergency. 1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-4 SECTION 1. Subsection (b), Section 21.042, Property Code, is 1-5 amended to read as follows: 1-6 Sec. 21.042. ASSESSMENT OF DAMAGES. 1-7 (b) If a part of or an entire tract or parcel of real 1-8 property is condemned, the damage to the property owner is the 1-9 local market value of the property at the time of the special 1-10 commissioners' hearing or the property owner may elect to establish 1-11 an earlier date of valuation and taking by proving (i) that the 1-12 condemning authority manifested publicly the intention to take the 1-13 property at such earlier date; (ii) that the market value of the 1-14 landowner's property at that time was higher than the date of 1-15 valuation used by the condemnor; and (iii) that said public 1-16 manifestation by the condemning authority adversely affected the 1-17 value of the real property in question. 1-18 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995. 1-19 SECTION 3. EMERGENCY CLAUSE. The importance of this 1-20 legislation and the crowded condition of the calendars in both 1-21 houses create an emergency and an imperative public necessity that 1-22 the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-23 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.